By ADRIAN STEWART CO
Ferdinand “Thirdy” Ravena III and the San-En NeoPhoenix suffered a heartbreaking 85-80 defeat to Ryukyu Golden Kings in the 2020-21 Japan B.League on Wednesday night at the 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.
The Iloilo City-native Ravena surged the NeoPhoenix ahead at 77-76 with 1:40 remaing in the game after splitting his free throws but 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 Keita Imamura and two free throws for an 83-77 advantage with under a minute remaining.
Ravena made his last push for the NeoPhoenix as he pulled his squad to within 80-83 with a three-point basket in the final 24.2 seconds but Evans sealed the win for Golden Kings with two free throws.
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 a 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./ASC, WDJ