Kevin Kotzur's double-double and 13-point efforts from Marcus Dove and Shingo Utsumi sparked the visiting Kyoto Hannaryz to a 63-58 victory over the Sendai 89ers on Friday night.
Kotzur contributed team-high totals of 17 points and 12 rebounds for Kyoto (15-18), and blocked two shots.
Dove chipped in with nine boards, three assists, a pair of steals and a block, while Yusuke Okada had an eight-point performance in the series opener. Sunao Murakami energized the visitors with a team-high three steals.
The Hannaryz led 34-30 at halftime. They used a game-best 11-0 run late in the game to take a 59-54 lead.
Wendell White paced Sendai (9-24) with 19 points. Masaharu Kataoka and Tshilidzi Nephawe poured in 13 and 12, respectively. Nephawe swatted four shots.
The 89ers made just 2 of 16 3-point shots against former coach Honoo Hamaguchi's Hannaryz. Overall, they shot 23-for-70 (32.9 percent).
Kyoto shot 36.2 percent from the field.
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.