By ADRIAN STEWART CO

Ilonggo Kiefer Ravena and the Shiga Lakes hacked out a tight 71-67 victory over the Kobe Storks in the Japan B.League Division 2 at the World Memorial Hall in Japan on Sunday night, November 5.

The former NLEX Road Warriors guard finished with nine points, including two three-point conversions, to go with three rebounds and two assists as the Lakes moved up to 6-5 in the standings.

Ryan Kriener top-scored for the Lakes with 19 points to go with eight rebounds and three assists, while Teppei Kashiwagura and Justin Burrell ended up with 11 markers apiece in the victory.

Lakes head coach Dabby Gomez said he was happy that his team completed a weekend sweep of the Storks, and he hopes that this will serve as a motivation for his squad moving forward.

“I’m relieved that we were able to win two games like this in a row. In terms of performance, I think our players showed that they are one of the strongest teams in this league,” Gomez said in an interview posted on Shiga’s website.

“I also believe that we are one of the top teams in the league in terms of defense, and we were able to demonstrate that during today’s important period. I’m glad that each player played with their own intentions in those areas,” he added.

Trey Porter tallied 16 points and six rebounds, Sena Kawashima and Yusuke Sugiyama added 11 and 10 markers, respectively, while Nigel Spikes hauled in 10 rebounds to go with seven points for the Storks.

In Division 1 action, Matthew Wright and the Kyoto Hannaryz continued their struggle as they suffered an 86-75 loss to the Kai Sotto-less Hiroshima Dragonflies at the FPCO Arena Fukuyama.

Wright, who previously played for the Phoenix Super LPG Fuel Masters in the PBA, finished with eight points, three rebounds and three assists as the Hannaryz dropped to 1-10.

Sotto, who had a stint with the Orlando Magic in the NBA Summer League, has yet to see action this season as he is dealing with a back injury.

The Dragonflies improved to a 5-6 win-loss slate./ASC, WDJ