The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

The Japanese B-League tipped off its season opener last weekend and a pair of Bahamian national team players saw their respective teams get off to perfect starts.

Veteran forward Kadeem Coleby is in his fourth season with the Akita Northern Happinets while Mark St Fort is the latest addition to the roster of SeaHorses Mikawa.

Coleby averaged 12 points and 6.5 rebounds per game in the pair of wins over Shinshu BW.

In a blowout game one, Coleby and the remainder of the starters played limited minutes en route to an 80 - 55 win. He finished with eight points and three rebounds in just 16 minutes. The Happinets built a double digit lead in the first quarter and took an early 23-12 advantage and led wire to wire.

In game two, Coleby finished with a double double, 16 points, 10 rebounds and two blocked shots in an 80 - 76 win. The Happinets had to overcome a slow start and were outscored 26-10 in the opening frame. They followed by outscoring Shinshu in every other quarter 24-14, 28-24 and 18-12.

St Fort and his new Mikawa teammates swept the Hitachi Searockers 82-78 and 89-87. He played sparingly with three points in game one and followed with two points in game two.

This is the B League’s fifth season after the COVID-19 pandemic brought an early end to the 2019-20 season. Each team will play 60 regular season games. The playoffs commence on May 13 and the finals will follow on May 29.

Coleby has been a mainstay in the Akita lineup for the last four seasons. Through 34 games last season, he averaged 10.6 points per game on 54 percent shooting from the field. He also averaged 6.9 rebounds and 2.0 blocks in just over 26 minutes per game.

Akita finished 19-22 on the season, fifth in the league standings.

In 2018 he was the league leader in blocked shots (2.4 per game) in his second season with the Happinets.

St Fort spent last season in the Japan’s third division, the B3-League, as a member of the Saitama Broncos where he averaged 17.9 points and 9.8 rebounds per game. The B3-League has eleven teams made up of de facto semi-professional teams.