Tominaga rewrites RC’s record book with 3s

When Keisei Tominaga arrived on the Ranger College campus two years ago, he already had already established himself as a star in his home county of Japan. Over the course of 1 ½ years in Texas, he's made himself into a legend.

The 19-year-old son of former Japanese national team center Hiroyuki Tominaga, Keisei etched his name deep into the Ranger College history books last Saturday when he shattered the Rangers' all-time mark for three-pointers in a career during a 97-95 victory over Temple. In the contest, he nailed seven three-point shots – giving him an amazing 18 long-range shots in his last two outings – and surpassed former RC star Brayan Au as the school's record-holder.

A teammate of Tominaga's last season, Au set the school's record last season as a sophomore. He finished his 2-year stay at RC with 130.

There was little doubt if Tominaga would break Au's record when the season began. In fact, it was more of a "when" issue.

The answer came early in the first half. The Japanese sharpshooter knocked down five treys in the first 20 minutes of the Northern Texas Junior College Athletic Conference game and moved past Au's mark. Through the Rangers' first 11 games, Tominaga has 139 three-pointers.

The 6-foot-2 guard has helped Ranger average more than 100 points per game in March with a red-hot hand from the perimeter. In Ranger's three games this month, Tominaga has shot better than 70 percent from behind the three-point arc, hitting on 22 of his 31 three-point attempts. For the season, the University of Nebraska signee has hit 35 of his 65 attempts.

Tominaga, who averaged 39.8 points per game for Sakuragaoka High School during the 2018 All-Japan Championship, exploded onto the NJCAA scene last year as a freshman. Playing under former RC head coach Billy Gillispie, he buried 104 three-pointers en route to averaging 16.8 points per game.

Tominaga has been more than just a three-point specialist at Ranger. To date, he ranks third on the college's all-time scoring list with 674 points (Brayan Au holds the school's scoring mark with 882 points) and third on the all-time field goals made list with 238 (Trey Conrod and Au share the record with 312).