After missing the past four games, power forward Andy Ellis, the bj-league's leading scorer, made a dramatic return to the Oita HeatDevils lineup on Saturday, scoring 26 points in his team's 80-68 win over the host Saitama Broncos. Oita (9-10) also got 21 points from Chris Ayer and 11 points and eight assists from Yukinori Suzuki. Gordon James led the Broncos (8-11) with 18 points. Elsewhere, Reggie Warren scored a season-best 40 points, leading the Takamatsu Five Arrows (12-7) to a 100-96 overtime win over the visiting Rizing Fukuoka (8-11). Five Arrows point guard Rasheed Sparks nearly had a triple-double, finishing with eight points, nine assists and 12 rebounds. For Fukuoka, Michael Gardener had a team-high 35 points. The Osaka Evessa, meanwhile, improved to 16-3 with a 101-76 win over the Toyama Grouses (2-19). Matt Lottich's 23 points led Osaka, while Kazuya Hatano added 21 points and Mikey Marshall also flirted with a triple-double (16 points, 10 rebounds, nine assists). Robby Joyner was the Grouses' leading scorer with 23. The Sendai 89ers improved to 15-4, beating the visiting Ryukyu Golden Kings 101-95. Ryan Blackwell had a 30-point game for the high-octane 89ers offense. For the Golden Kings (4-15), Danny Jones had a 35-point outing. The host Niigata Albirex BB picked up their third win in as many games over the Tokyo Apache this season, beating them 96-84. Free-throwing shooting was the story. The Albirex (12-9) made 21 of 24 shots from the charity stripe. Tokyo (11-8) made 14 of 26.
