MANILA – Ilonggo Ferdinand “Thirdy” Ravena III and San-en NeoPhoenix extended their Japan B.League Division 1 winning streak to 15 games after a 95-89 beating of Fighting Eagles Nagoya on Wednesday night at the Nagoya Biwajima Sports Center.
The former Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles standout finished with 18 points, eight rebounds, one assist, and a steal as the NeoPhoenix remained on top of the standings with 32-4 record.
“Today’s game, I think, was one of the best that we have ever played, both offensively and defensively,” Ravena said. “We were able to execute our game plan almost perfectly.”
“Personally, I feel that my teammates created things for me, created situations where I could utilize my strengths, and put me in those positions, which led to my performance today,” he added.
Yante Maten also provided offensive spark for the NeoPhoenix with 23 points, Coty Clarke added a double-double of 13 points and 10 assists, while David Dudzinski and Sota Oura had 13 and 12, respectively.
Aaron Henry tallied 25 points, Jeremy Jones added 24 markers, Luke Evans chipped in a double-double of 14 points and 12 rebounds, and Takaya Sasayama ended with 11 points as Nagoya dropped to 16-21.
Meanwhile, Kai Sotto played season-high in minutes as Yokohama B-Corsairs prevailed over Sunrockers Shibuya (20-17), 68-60, over at the Yoyogi National Stadium 2nd Gymnasium.
The 7-foot-3 Filipino center played a season-high of 26 minutes and finished with 10 rebounds, five points, and two blocks as the B-Corsairs snapped their losing skid to improve to 16-21.
Yuki Kawamura led the way for Yokohama with 29 points to go with nine assists and six rebounds, while Jarrod Uthoff contributed 20 markers and eight rebounds in the tight victory.
Anthony Clemmons top-scored for Shibuya with 23 points, while Josh Hawkinson added 13 markers as they dropped to a 20-17 record./PN
