MANILA – Ferdinand “Thirdy” Ravena III and the San-En NeoPhoenix suffered a heartbreaking 85-80 loss to Ryukyu Golden Kings in the 2020-2021 Japan B. League, Wednesday, at Toyohashi City General Gymnasium in Japan.
It was a stinging defeat for the NeoPhoenix as they committed three huge turnovers in the endgame that prevented them from pulling off a huge upset over the favored Golden Kings.
After splitting his free throws, the Iloilo City-native Ravena surged the NeoPhoenix ahead at 77-76 with 1:40 remaining in the game. However, the Golden Kings notched the lead on two freebies by Dwayne Evans.
The NeoPhoenix turned the ball over in the next possession which led to a three-pointer by Golden Kings’ Keita Imamura and two free throws for an 83-77 advantage with under a minute remaining.
Ravena made his last push for the NeoPhoenix by pulling the team to within 80-83 with a three-point basket in the final 24.2 seconds, but two free throws from Evans sealed the victory for the Golden Kings.
Evans fell short of a triple-double of 26 points, 13 boards, and seven assists, while Narito Namizato added 19 markers as Ryukyu rose to 38-11 to formally book its spot in the playoffs.
Imamura, meanwhile, contributed 15 markers including 4-of-8 shooting from beyond the arc, and Jack Cooley got double-double 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Golden Kings.
Ravena – a former Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles star – finished the match with 15 points including three three-point conversions to go along with two rebounds for the NeoPhoenix.
Stevan Jelovac led the way with 22 points and seven rebounds. Hayato Kawashima contributed 15 points on perfect 3-of-3 shooting from three-point land for the NeoPhoenix which dropped to 12-43.
San-En, which played minus one of their imports Kyle Hunt, will try to bounce back against the Shinshu Brave Warriors (19-33) in a two-game series at White Ring Arena this weekend./PN
