Chiba Jets edge Altiri Chiba 89-87 in an overtime derby

D.J. Newbill had one more look. Altiri Chiba trailed by two with five seconds left in overtime, and Newbill went up for a three to take the lead. Yuki Togashi blocked it, Yuta Watanabe grabbed the rebound with two seconds left, and the Chiba Jets won the Chiba derby 89-87 on Friday night in front of 9,386 fans at LaLa arena TOKYO-BAY.

The Jets needed all of it. They led by 17 points in the fourth quarter and did not score for the last three minutes of regulation.

The 17-point lead

Chiba led 20-19 after the first quarter and 44-38 at half-time. Brandon Randolph took over the third quarter off the bench. He scored 12 of the Jets' 23 points in it, with a three at 7:23 and another at 2:07, and Chiba led 67-53 going into the fourth.

Shuta Hara hit threes at 9:42 and 9:08 of the fourth to make it 73-56. That was the biggest lead of the night, 17 points. Watanabe added a second-chance layup at 6:39 for 75-62.

Then the game turned.

A 21-4 run

From 73-56 Altiri outscored Chiba 21-4 to tie it at 77-77. Dererk Pardon scored seven of Altiri's 24 points in the quarter, mostly at the line and at the rim, and had a dunk on a second chance at 7:52. Kotetsu Kurokawa scored five. Newbill had four, including a layup with 1:09 left that made it 77-75, and Alex Davis finished it: a fast-break layup after a steal at 2:28, then a jumper with 30 seconds left to tie.

Togashi's two free throws at 3:03 were the last Chiba points of regulation. After that the Jets missed every shot they took. Watanabe's three missed after the Davis layup, then Togashi's layup was blocked by Pardon with 49 seconds left. Luke Maye rebounded his own miss and missed again. Randolph's layup was blocked by Davis with 14 seconds left. Watanabe's three with two seconds left missed too.

The fourth quarter finished Altiri 24, Chiba 10.

Overtime

Watanabe opened the extra five minutes with a three for 80-77, and Davis answered with a dunk. Naoki Tashiro scored his only basket, a layup, for 82-79. Pardon dunked it back to 82-81.

Togashi's layup made it 84-81 at 1:47. Pardon hit a layup and drew a foul on the same play, then made the free throw to tie it 84-84 with 1:32 left. Togashi put Chiba up 86-84 with a jumper off a Maye assist at 1:17.

Newbill answered with a second-chance three at 1:02 for an 87-86 lead, Altiri's only lead of the extra period. Randolph won it back at 0:41 with a layup, 88-87.

Newbill missed a three at 0:22. Watanabe rebounded. Kei Sugimoto fouled Togashi at 0:13, and Togashi made one of two for 89-87. Pardon rebounded the miss, Newbill took another three, and Togashi blocked it.

The night in numbers

Togashi scored 22 with six assists and seven made free throws. Randolph had 23 off the bench on 3-of-8 shooting from three and a perfect 6 for 6 at the line. Watanabe scored 18 with six rebounds, and Maye had 10 points, 16 rebounds and four assists.

For Altiri, Newbill scored 19 but made only three of his 11 threes. Pardon had 18 points and 11 rebounds. Sugimoto scored 14 off the bench with four threes. Davis had nine points, seven assists and three blocks. Kai Sotto played 9:44 off the bench and scored six points with five rebounds, on a layup and two free throws in the first quarter and another layup in the third.

Chiba made 21 of 27 free throws to Altiri's 11 of 14, and made 10 of 30 threes to Altiri's 10 of 36. The lead changed hands seven times and the game was tied eight times.

The Jets are 5-9 and Altiri are 5-10, 10th and 11th in the East. Chiba had been 1-4 after losing at Kobe on October 8.

Scoring

Chiba Jets: Brandon Randolph 23, Yuki Togashi 22, Yuta Watanabe 18, Luke Maye 10, Shuta Hara 7, Riku Segawa 4, Nyika Williams 3, Naoki Tashiro 2, Takumi Sato 0, Nate Williams 0, Gaku Arao 0.

Altiri Chiba: D.J. Newbill 19, Dererk Pardon 18, Kei Sugimoto 14, Alex Davis 9, Leon Watanabe 9, Kotetsu Kurokawa 7, Kai Sotto 6, Takaaki Kida 3, Seiya Ando 2, Blake Aoki 0, Naoya Kumagae 0.

By quarter

Chiba Jets 20, 24, 23, 10, overtime 12 = 89. Altiri Chiba 19, 19, 15, 24, overtime 10 = 87.

What is next

The two clubs meet twice more this season, on March 12 and March 14, 2027, with Altiri Chiba the home team.