Asia-Basket.com All-Japanese JBL Superleague Awards 2008-09
Player of the Year: Kosuke Takeuchi (205-C/F-85) of Aisin Sea Horses Guard of the Year: Yuta Tabuse (175-G-80) of Tochigi Brex Forward of the Year: Kosuke Takeuchi of Aisin Sea Horses Center of the Year: J.R. Sakuragi (206-C-76) of Aisin Sea Horses Newcomer of the Year: Kenta Hirose (192-G-85) of Panasonic Trians Co-Most Improved Player of the Year: Hiroyuki Kinoshita (178-G-80) of Trians and Shunsuke Ito (203-C/F-79) of Tochigi Brex Import Player of the Year: Cory Violette (203-C/F-82) of Toshiba Brave Thunders Domestic Player of the Year: Kosuke Takeuchi of Aisin Sea Horses Defensive Player of the Year: Yuta Tabuse of Tochigi Brex Coach of the Year: Shuji Ono of Hitachi Sun Rockers 1st Team Yuta Tabuse of Tochigi Brex Joji Takeuchi (205-C-85) of Hitachi Sunrockers Cory Violette of Toshiba Brave Thunders Kosuke Takeuchi of Aisin Sea Horses J.R. Sakuragi of Aisin Sea Horses 2nd Team Takuya Kawamura (191-G-86) of Link Tochigi Brex Shinsuke Kashiwagi (183-G-81) of Aishin Sea Horses Daryan Selvy (197-F/G-79) of Aishin Sea Horses Michael Takahashi (198-F-74) of Toyota Alvark Charles O'Bannon (198-G/F-75) of Toyota Alvark Honorable Mention Fumihiko Aono (210-C-78) of Panasonic Trians Ace Custis (202-F-74) of Panasonic Trians Jerald Honeycutt (205-F/C-74) of Panasonic Trians Hiroyuki Kinoshita of Panasonic Trians Kei Igarashi (180-G-80) of Hitachi Sunrockers Takuya Sato (197-C/F-83) of Mitsubishi Diamond Dolphins Shunsuke Ito of Tochigi Brex Lamar Rice (203-F-82) of Hitachi Sunrockers All-Domestic Players Team Yuta Tabuse of Tochigi Brex Takuya Kawamura of Link Tochigi Brex Joji Takeuchi of Hitachi Sunrockers Kosuke Takeuchi of Aisin Sea Horses J.R. Sakuragi of Aisin Sea Horses All-Imports Team Daryan Selvy of Aishin Sea Horses Cory Violette of Toshiba Brave Thunders Charles O'Bannon of Toyota Alvark Jerald Honeycutt of Panasonic Trians Lamar Rice of Hitachi Sunrockers All-Defensive Team Yuta Tabuse of Tochigi Brex Kei Igarashi of Hitachi Sunrockers Joji Takeuchi of Hitachi Sunrockers Kosuke Takeuchi of Aisin Sea Horses Fumihiko Aono of Panasonic Trians Aishin wins JBL Championship title 2008-09 Aishin - Hitachi S. 79-59 Aishin SeaHorses became the Winner of JBL 20008/2009 after the win over Hitachi 79:59 in Game 4. The winner of the Regualr Season was led by David Young (196-G/F-81, college: N.C.Central) who poured in 20 points. Henderson-Sakuragi nailed 17 points and had 12 rebounds, while Takeuchi Kosuke netted 15. Rice Lamar finished the night with 20 points and 11 rebounds in the losing effort. With a chance to repeat as Japan Basketball League champions, the Aisin Sea Horses ran wild on Hitachi on Wednesday night at Tokyo's Yoyogi No. 2 Gym. The Sea Horses closed out the best-of-five final series with a 79-59 blowout in Game 4 to claim their second straight title and fourth overall. Aisin, which had repeat titles in 2003 and '04, won by riding a different option in first-year forward David Young, who broke out for 20 points--including 5-for-7 shooting from 3-point range. Aisin's big horse, J.R. Sakuragi (206-C-76, agency: Paris Global Sports, college: UCLA)--a naturalized Japanese citizen--added 17 points and 12 rebounds to cap a season in which the Sea Horses swept the All-Japan title and the JBL championship for the second consecutive time. 'We didn't want to think about playing tomorrow. We went out with the mindset that this would be the last game,' said Aisin coach Kimikazu Suzuki . 'I think the players gave it everything they had tonight. They did a great job.' The Sea Horses finished the regular season atop the standings, and the Sunrockers were second. Hitachi was making its first appearance in the finals and had no answer when Young started knocking down 3-pointers. 'The fact that he was hitting those shots really got to us,' Hitachi coach Shuji Ono said of Young's performance. 'He's a guy who likes to drive to the basket, so when those 3s started falling, it hurt us.' Suzuki said the Sea Horses were ideal with the ball. 'Our offense was perfect tonight,' he said. 'We were able to score on drives, with outside shots and post-ups. We don't lose when we play like this.' Kosuke Takeuchi (205-C/F-85) had 15 points and nine boards for Aisin and was named the MVP of the playoffs as well making the regular-season Best V. Sakuragi and Shinsuke Kashiwagi (183-G-81), who had 14 points and four assists, were also named Best V. Kosuke Takeuchi didn't outplay his twin brother Joji, who matched him with 15 points and added 12 rebounds, but he brought home the title. Sakuragi sparked a first-quarter 20-4 run that put the Sea Horses ahead by as many as 17 points in the first half. He was too much to handle in the paint and that opened the court up for Young. The Sea Horses fed the post early and Sakuragi ate Hitachi's Lamar Rice (203-F-82, college: Georgetown, KY) up. Sakuragi had 10 points and drew two fouls on Rice to send the Hitachi forward to the bench with 4:41 to play in the quarter. That's when the Sea Horses went on a five-minute run, going from one point down to 17 points ahead. Only a last-second 3-pointer by Taiji Sakai ended the run and left the Sunrockers down 40-27 at the break. Japan JBL All Star Game 2008-09
Takuya Kawamura (191-G-86) MVP Shogo Asayama (192-F-81) Kei Igarashi (180-G-80) Joji Takeuchi (205-C-85) Shunsuke Ito (203-C/F-79) Yuta Tabuse (175-G-80, college: BYU-Hawaii) Takehiko Orimo (190-G-70) Yusuke Okada (185-G-84) Tyler Newton (208-C-82, college: Pacific) James Cripe (213-C-84, college: N.Kentucky) West: Kenichi Sako (179-G-70) Kosuke Takeuchi (205-C/F-85) Shohei Kikuchi (190-F/G-85) Tomoo Amino (195-F/G-80) J.R. Henderson-Sakuragi (206-C-76, agency: Paris Global Sports, college: UCLA) Takumi Ishizaki (188-G-84) Shinsuke Kashiwagi (183-G-81) Carl Thomas (200-F-76, college: Charleston) Cory Violette (203-C/F-82, college: Gonzaga) Kenta Hirose (192-G-85) Sea Horses strike early to defend hoops title - Jan 13, 2009 (by Eurobasket) It wasn't the most fitting game for the final, but in a sense the highly-defensive contest showed the weight of the annual Emperor's Cup title. The defending champion Aisin Sea Horses took advantage of a huge early lead and escaped from the challenger Hitachi Sunrockers' second-half rally to complete a back-to-back triumph with a 65-48 win in the All-Japan Basketball Championship 2009 final on Monday. 'We hadn't been able to play the previous games of this tournament at the level we would have liked, but in the end were able to defend well enough,' Aisin head coach Kimikazu Suzuki said of his squad, which had beaten Meiji University, the Mitsubishi Diamond Dolphins and Toyota Motors Alvark before getting to the championship game at Yoyogi National Gymnasium. In front of 4,633 fans, the Sea Horses jumped out to build a 13-0 lead as Hitachi wasn't able to sink a shot in the opening quarter. The Sunrockers kept struggling and failed to find the answer to Aisin's formidable defense to go on to finish the first quarter trailing 24-10 (failing to hit any 2-point field-goals) and 40-18 at the half. The Sunrockers' offense finally started rolling in the third period on Lamar Rice's eight-point effort to cut the deficit down to 14 points at 52-38. The Sunrockers caught up with the shadow of Aisin, shrinking the gap to 10 on forward/center Joji Takeuchi's consecutive points with less than five minutes left in the final quarter. But Aisin, which continued to hold off Hitachi with its stingy defense, wouldn't let them come any closer, although the Sea Horses couldn't score any points until almost nine minutes into the period. In the end it was all about the first half, and Hitachi just didn't have enough time to catch up with Aisin. 'We made our first final (of the All-Japan tourney) and I felt the weight of the Emperor's Cup,' said Hitachi coach Shuji Ono after his team outscored its rival 30-25 in the second half. 'The beginning (of the game) was everything. We couldn't move the ball because of the defense (of Aisin). 'In the second half, we were finally able to show our game, though.' Point guard Shinsuke Kashiwagi (183-G-81), the reigning JBL MVP, led the Sea Horses with 16 points, four assists (tied with teammate J.R. Sakuragi (206-C-76, agency: Paris Global Sports, college: UCLA)) and four steals. He committed four turnovers. 'From the start of the game I was so conscious of my defense, and putting a lot of pressure on our opponents was our team's strategy,' Kashiwagi said. 'Not just me, but the other four players on the floor were doing great defense as well and I thought (the Sunrockers) weren't moving the ball well.' Courtesy of Japan Times |
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