What Happened 

The Utsunomiya Brex defeated the Taoyuan Pauian Pilots 90-81 to become EASL Champions in their first-ever season with the league.

From the opening tip, it was all Utsunomiya. Five consecutive three-pointers shared between Shinji Takashima and Makoto Hiejima opened a 15-0 lead before Taoyuan had a chance to settle. That run was part of a record-breaking first quarter — 10 three-pointers made, 39 points scored, three EASL records set in ten minutes. 

The lead kept growing into the second quarter, reaching as many as 26 before Taoyuan trimmed it to 51-32 at halftime. For reference, neither of the two previous EASL Championship Games had been decided by more than four points. 

Utsunomiya kept the lead in double digits through the third quarter before Taoyuan made their push late in the fourth. With 3:37 remaining, a pick-and-pop between Treveon Graham and Alec Brown saw Brown knock down a right-wing three to make it 81-73, before Graham followed with a spin-and-score in the low block to bring it to 81-75.

But that was as close as it got. Utsunomiya’s D.J. Newbill answered straight away and finished with a team-high 21 points as the reigning B.LEAGUE champions closed it out. Taoyuan had four double-digit scorers led by Graham's 23, but the first quarter had set a deficit too steep to overcome.

The Brex are EASL Champions, giving the B.LEAGUE a third consecutive title.

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What It Means 

The Utsunomiya Brex become the third champion in EASL's three home-and-away seasons, following the Chiba Jets in 2023-24 and the Hiroshima Dragonflies in 2024-25. 

Their nine-point winning margin is also the largest in EASL Championship Game history.

They also become the second team to win a domestic title and follow it up with an EASL championship in the same season, with Hiroshima having been the first to achieve that double in 2024-25.

Back in the B.LEAGUE, the Brex leads the East Division with a 33-11 record, the third best in the league overall. 

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Player Of The Game: Shinji Takashima 

Shinji Takashima saved his best for the biggest stage. The Utsunomiya guard finished with an EASL career-high 18 points in just over 25 minutes, shooting 6-of-11 from three — three of which came during that stunning 15-0 opening run that set the tone for the entire game. 

On the defensive end, he drew the assignment of guarding Treveon Graham and kept the Pilots' leading scorer in check throughout. 

EASL Finals MVP: Makoto Hiejima 

Makoto Hiejima is the EASL Finals 2026 Most Valuable Player, capping a remarkable run that saw the Utsunomiya guard help carry the Brex from a quarterfinal entry as the third-seeded group winner all the way to the championship.

It wasn't a perfect start. In the quarterfinal win over New Taipei, Hiejima was quiet by his standards. But he found his form at exactly the right time. In the semifinals against Ryukyu, he finished with 14 points in 31 minutes, shooting 60% from three on 3-of-5 attempts and dishing out a game-high eight assists in a 103-96 win.

He saved his best for last. In the championship game against Taoyuan, Hiejima played more minutes than any other local on the floor and delivered 19 points in 27 minutes, going 5-of-6 from three and 2-of-2 from the line to go along with three rebounds and three assists.

In claiming the award, Hiejima becomes just the second local player in EASL history to be named Finals MVP, following the Chiba Jets' Yuki Togashi, who was the first to achieve the honour.

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Super Statistic: 19

Utsunomiya's 19 three-pointers made in the championship game were the most in a single game across the entire EASL Finals. Ten of those came in the first quarter alone — itself an EASL record — as part of a 39-point opening period that also set a new mark for the most points scored in a single quarter in league history.

Takashima led the way with six threes, Hiejima added five, and Newbill chipped in four, with the Brex shooting 46.3% from beyond the arc as a team. Taoyuan simply had no answer for the barrage, and by the time the first quarter was over, the championship had already slipped away.