[Gunma Crane Thunders: Game Results] April 25 (Sat) vs. Levanga Hokkaido - Resona Group B.LEAGUE 2025-26 Season
The Gunma Crane Thunders clinched a berth in the B.LEAGUE 2025-26 Championship with a victory over Levanga Hokkaido on April 25th. The team has shown significant growth, surpassing last season's win count.
📋 Article Processing Timeline
- 📰 Published: April 26, 2026 at 04:16
- 🔍 Collected: April 25, 2026 at 20:01
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: April 25, 2026 at 21:16 (1h 14m after Collected)
Starting 5
■ Gunma Crane Thunders
#0 Yuma Fujii
#6 Takuto Nakamura
#8 Kerry Blackshear Jr.
#9 Naoto Tsuji
#32 Johannes Thiemann
■ Levanga Hokkaido
#2 Dwight Ramos
#5 Kevin Jones
#15 Ren Shimatani
#21 John Harrar
#30 Keisei Tominaga
Main Stats
#0 Yuma Fujii: 8 pts, 3P(2/5), 2 reb, 4 ast
#1 Koh Flippin: 4 pts, 2 reb, 6 ast
#6 Takuto Nakamura: 18 pts, 3P(3/5), 3 reb, 3 ast
#8 Kerry Blackshear Jr.: 17 pts, 9 reb, 5 ast, 2 stl
#9 Naoto Tsuji: 10 pts, 2 ast
#15 AJ Edu: 17 pts, 6 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl
#16 Kenny Asano: 2 pts, 3 reb
#29 Kazuki Hosokawa: 9 pts, 3P(2/6), 3 reb, 3 ast
#32 Johannes Thiemann: 16 pts, 6 reb, 7 ast
#55 Daichi Taniguchi: 4 pts
Kyle Milling, Head Coach
First of all, I am truly happy that we were able to advance to the Championship (CS), which is one of the club's goals. Hokkaido is a truly great offensive team and they play at a very fast pace, so we made an effort to slow them down and keep them in the half-court. In fact, it was really difficult, but in the end, the players showed great execution. I am truly proud of the players.
(How did you think about the defense against Tominaga?)
Tominaga is a truly great player, and I thought he would score no matter how we defended him. What we focused on was making sure we didn't let the other players have it easy. In fact, Tominaga had some great scoring, but I think the fact that we didn't let the other players score easily led to this result.
(Tell us if there were parts of the defense you changed between the first and second halves.)
Regarding the second half, there were some points where shots didn't go in during the first half, and Hokkaido created a flow from that. What I told the players in the second half was, 'We are taking good shots, so let's believe and keep shooting.' Also, Hokkaido was using a lot of switches, so we clarified other options for our switch counters, which the players executed. As a result, the shots went in, and it led to stopping Hokkaido's offense.
(I think you grabbed the momentum in the 3Q. Tell us the aim of the offense.)
As I said earlier, we talked about how to attack Hokkaido's switch defense. In the first half, we looked at the big men too much, and the ball stopped because we looked at mismatches too much. But in the second half, I instructed, 'Let's move the ball a little more.' And as a result, I think more open looks were created by the players believing in each other and moving the ball a lot. I believe basketball is truly a mental sport, so by believing in each other and passing, and shooting with confidence, it resulted in many shots going in.
Naoto Tsuji
I think we were able to proceed at our own pace, so I think it was exactly according to the game plan, and I think we were able to respond to the opponent's switch defense throughout the 40 minutes.
(Regarding the Championship (CS) being decided.)
I experienced it last year, so it's a step up, and I remember being very happy then. This year is a little different; we can hold it at home, so I want to aim for that first.
(In terms of the number of wins, you've surpassed last year. Regarding the difference from last year, including deciding the CS early.)
Last year's end was also an upward trend, but this year, I feel the team's completion level is improving, so if we can play our own basketball the same way in the CS regardless of the opponent, I'm looking forward to good results.
(In the 3Q, about two passes to Flippin were well-executed.)
Koh is in a good place. It's a good combo. I'm not trying to make people laugh, but I think a good combo is forming.
■ Gunma Crane Thunders
#0 Yuma Fujii
#6 Takuto Nakamura
#8 Kerry Blackshear Jr.
#9 Naoto Tsuji
#32 Johannes Thiemann
■ Levanga Hokkaido
#2 Dwight Ramos
#5 Kevin Jones
#15 Ren Shimatani
#21 John Harrar
#30 Keisei Tominaga
Main Stats
#0 Yuma Fujii: 8 pts, 3P(2/5), 2 reb, 4 ast
#1 Koh Flippin: 4 pts, 2 reb, 6 ast
#6 Takuto Nakamura: 18 pts, 3P(3/5), 3 reb, 3 ast
#8 Kerry Blackshear Jr.: 17 pts, 9 reb, 5 ast, 2 stl
#9 Naoto Tsuji: 10 pts, 2 ast
#15 AJ Edu: 17 pts, 6 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl
#16 Kenny Asano: 2 pts, 3 reb
#29 Kazuki Hosokawa: 9 pts, 3P(2/6), 3 reb, 3 ast
#32 Johannes Thiemann: 16 pts, 6 reb, 7 ast
#55 Daichi Taniguchi: 4 pts
Kyle Milling, Head Coach
First of all, I am truly happy that we were able to advance to the Championship (CS), which is one of the club's goals. Hokkaido is a truly great offensive team and they play at a very fast pace, so we made an effort to slow them down and keep them in the half-court. In fact, it was really difficult, but in the end, the players showed great execution. I am truly proud of the players.
(How did you think about the defense against Tominaga?)
Tominaga is a truly great player, and I thought he would score no matter how we defended him. What we focused on was making sure we didn't let the other players have it easy. In fact, Tominaga had some great scoring, but I think the fact that we didn't let the other players score easily led to this result.
(Tell us if there were parts of the defense you changed between the first and second halves.)
Regarding the second half, there were some points where shots didn't go in during the first half, and Hokkaido created a flow from that. What I told the players in the second half was, 'We are taking good shots, so let's believe and keep shooting.' Also, Hokkaido was using a lot of switches, so we clarified other options for our switch counters, which the players executed. As a result, the shots went in, and it led to stopping Hokkaido's offense.
(I think you grabbed the momentum in the 3Q. Tell us the aim of the offense.)
As I said earlier, we talked about how to attack Hokkaido's switch defense. In the first half, we looked at the big men too much, and the ball stopped because we looked at mismatches too much. But in the second half, I instructed, 'Let's move the ball a little more.' And as a result, I think more open looks were created by the players believing in each other and moving the ball a lot. I believe basketball is truly a mental sport, so by believing in each other and passing, and shooting with confidence, it resulted in many shots going in.
Naoto Tsuji
I think we were able to proceed at our own pace, so I think it was exactly according to the game plan, and I think we were able to respond to the opponent's switch defense throughout the 40 minutes.
(Regarding the Championship (CS) being decided.)
I experienced it last year, so it's a step up, and I remember being very happy then. This year is a little different; we can hold it at home, so I want to aim for that first.
(In terms of the number of wins, you've surpassed last year. Regarding the difference from last year, including deciding the CS early.)
Last year's end was also an upward trend, but this year, I feel the team's completion level is improving, so if we can play our own basketball the same way in the CS regardless of the opponent, I'm looking forward to good results.
(In the 3Q, about two passes to Flippin were well-executed.)
Koh is in a good place. It's a good combo. I'm not trying to make people laugh, but I think a good combo is forming.