The Kyoto Hannaryz played with a sense of urgency and used effective defense to pick up their first victory of the season on Friday night in the bj-league, prevailing 84-75 over the visiting Hamamatsu Higashimikawa Phoenix.
Limiting the production of two Hamamatsu standouts — Kevin Galloway and Adrian Thomas — proved to be of vital importance for the Hannaryz, who reached the Final Four last season.
After two triple-doubles last weekend, Galloway was held to six points, five rebounds and two assists in the series opener. He had 63 assists in the previous five games, and saw his double-digit assist streak end at five. In addition, Thomas, who scored 41 points and canned a league-record 13 of 25 3-pointers last Sunday against the Miyazaki Shining Suns, scored a team-best 16 points on 4-for-13 shooting (3-for-9 on 3s).