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.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.