The bj-league's already crowded Western Conference standings got a little tighter thanks to the Shiga Lakestars' 77-70 home win over the Ryukyu Golden Kings on Saturday.
Mikey Marshall paced the Lakestars with 18 points and three steals, while power forward Gary Hamilton scored 17, grabbed nine boards, dished out four assists and collected three steals. Ray Schafer added 12 points, Masashi Joho scored 10, handed out five assists and also had three steals and Takamichi Fujiwara scored nine and had three assists.
The fourth-place Lakestars (23-20) started the day five games behind first-place Ryukyu in the standings.