The Niigata Albirex BB had six players reach double figures in scoring in Saturday's 89-80 victory over the two-time reigning champion Hamamatsu Higashimikawa Phoenix in Game 1 of their bj-league Eastern Conference semifinal playoff series.
Erron Maxey, a former Providence forward, paced the Albirex with 18 points in 18-plus minutes off the bench. Ex-Texas Christian University guard Nile Murry had 16 points and nine rebounds, while Chris Holm scored 14 points, raked in 14 boards and swatted three shots. Bennet Davis added 13 points and nine rebounds, Shuhei Komatsu scored 12 and Kimitake Sato had 11.
The Albirex (28-24 in the regular season) trailed 47-37 at the break, then put 52 points on the board the rest of the way to earn the win at Hamamatsu Arena.