MANILA – Kiefer Ravena had a nice scoring game but Shiga Lakestars still suffer an 82-73 defeat to Ryukyu Golden Kings in the 2021-2022 Japan B.League on Sunday at Ukaruchan Arena.
The Iloilo City native tallied 14 points off the bench, to go with three rebounds and three assists. But the Lakestars dropped to 10-21 after suffering its third straight loss.
Shiga, however, presented a huge challenge for Ryukyu. They turned a 14-point deficit in the third period to just a 71-75 score with over a minute remaining.
The Golden Kings showed steadiness in the endgame with Koh Flippin draining the tough fadeaway and Dwayne Evans draining three free throws.
Evans finished with 23 points. Jack Cooley added 15 points, while former PBA import Allen Durham and Keita Imamura had 10 each as Ryukyu stayed on top with 29-3 record.
Meanwhile, Kobe Paras waxed hot from downtown but was not enough. Niigata Albirex BB suffered a close 71-67 loss to Akita Northern Happinets at the Noshiro City Gymnasium.
The former University of the Philippines Fighting Maroon unloaded five triples to finish with 17 markers as Niigata Albirex dropped to last place with 5-31.
Unlike in his previous games, Paras was solid in this one as he had a big hand in Niigata’s rally that trimmed a 59-45 deficit to just 63-65 score with three minutes left.
The Northern Happinets, however, created separation anew with Colton Iverson scoring the final six points for Akita to secure their 22nd win in 34 games.
Iverson poured double-double 11 points and 10 rebounds to complement Shigehiro Taguchi’s team-high 15 points built on five treys for the Northern Happinets.
In the other game, Javi Gomez de Liano went scoreless in four minutes of play but Ibaraki Robots scored a 96-70 win over the Kyoto Hannaryz at the Kyoto City Gymnasium.
Kohei Fukuzawa spearheaded the offense for the Robots (8-28) with 27 points, build on six triples while Chehales Tapscott and Asahi Tajima both got 13 points each./PN
