[Match Report]9/21 Emperor’s Cup 4th Round vs Shinagawa City Basketball Club – Shiga Lakes

22
1Q
19

17 2Q 26

16 3Q 14

18
4Q
19

73
FINAL
78

100th Emperor’s Cup 2nd Round 4th Match
9.21 Naruto Amino Value Hall

POINTS

Brock Mortam 22PTS
Marquise Cummings 14 points
Shuto Moriyama 8 points

REBOUNDS

Brock Mortum 14REB
Javier Carter 10 REB
Shuto Moriyama 6 REB

Assists

Marquise Cummings 5AST
Block Mortum 2AST
Daichi Nomoto 2AST
Moriyama Shuto 2AST

Post-match comments

Head Coach Kenjiro Maeda (comment)

First of all, we as the Shiga Lakes team cannot accept this loss, and we cannot forgive it. I take full responsibility for not being able to express it through my play. At the same time, I think we gave Shinagawa a chance, which is why we lost today.

Q: What didn’t go well?

Since the beginning of the season, we have been talking about what we should not allow our opponents to do and what is most important in order to play the game well, and we have been working on that. We have always been conscious of that, and this morning, when we were preparing for the match against Shinagawa, we were focusing on not allowing easy layups and transitions, but in the first half, those situations easily occurred due to our careless defense.
I think that all it took was giving the Shinagawa players and team the opportunity to take the lead.

Q: How can you use this experience in the future?

You can’t change the past. I can’t accept this result, and I think that from this moment on, we have to change as a team. In that regard, I want to make a change from me first, then bring that change to the whole team, and move the team forward.

Q: What message would you like to give to your boosters?

Many of you came to Tokushima, and I believe many of you made time to watch the games on your screens, full of high hopes for this season. I am very sorry that we were not able to meet your expectations.
I believe that it is necessary for us as a professional club, coaches and players to clearly demonstrate our changed image from here on out, and as we will certainly be changing, I hope we do not disappoint those expectations. So I would like you to first see that and then ask you to continue to support us.

#21 Takanori Tahara (comment)

During the preseason, there were some areas of our basketball that were not so good, but I think we started off well in terms of trying to improve on those areas. However, after that, we had many instances where we were easily scored on due to our own light reactions, easy mistakes due to our weaknesses being exposed, or the opponents taking easy layups and open shots.

We weren’t able to dominate rebounds either, and we also didn’t get many offensive rebounds.

I felt that we were a little stiff in the game because we started on the bench. We had some good points, but I think that was the reason we couldn’t win. The whole team has to switch gears, so each individual has to switch gears, and then we have the preseason, and we still have the Koshigaya match, so we’ll get back on track and fight well in the opening home game.

Q. What challenges are you facing in building your team right now?

Now, under Head Coach Maeda, we have been working on the small details, defense, offense, and the Japanese players since mid-July, and although things were going well at first, I don’t think they were satisfied as time went on, and I think they may have become a little complacent. If we take action to improve our practice by even 1%, we should be heading in a good direction.

As a team, we have been trying to improve that area this week, but the current situation is that we are not seeing results. We just have to keep doing it, so we need to believe in the basketball that Kenny is playing, and be conscious of the small details, such as defense and offense, and the situation can change completely with just a little detail, so if we keep working on those things, I think we will see results.

Although I cannot accept this result at the moment, it’s over now, so I want to think carefully about what lies ahead, prepare what I can now, and move forward.

Q: What message would you like to give to your boosters?

So many supporters came all the way to Tokushima and sat on the bench, across from the bench, or on the side of the bench, and I’m really sorry that we lost.We have no choice but to take this as a lesson and take it as a positive, so we will learn from what we need to do and reflect on it.The opening game is in two weeks, so we will work hard in preparation for that, so I hope you will continue to support us with your enthusiastic support.