By ADRIAN STEWART CO

Ilonggo Kiefer Ravena and the Shiga Lakes got back on the winning track in the Japan B.League Division 2 after a 105-89 rout of the Fukushima Firebonds at the Shiga Daihatsu Arena on Saturday, January 27.

The former NLEX Road Warriors guard tallied eight points, including a three-pointer, to go with four assists and one rebound as the Lakes notched their 25th victory in 33 matches.

Ryan Kriener top-scored with 27 points to go with eight rebounds, two assists, two steals, and two blocks. Brock Motum added 26 markers with two outside conversions and Takanori Tahana added 12 points for Shiga.

“I am very grateful to the players who executed the game plan, even though it was more difficult than usual,” Shiga head coach Danny Gomez said.

“They were able to attack in a well-balanced manner both inside and outside,” he said.

“We also talked about the importance of rebounds and turnovers. As you can see from the fact that our opponent grabbed lesser offensive rebounds, so I think if things go like this, we’ll see a point difference like this,” he added.

Rapolas Ivanauskas finished with a double-double of 32 points and 15 rebounds. Daiki Tsuchiya added 12 markers and Gregory Echenique ended with 11 as the Firebonds dropped to 12-21.

Kiefer’s younger brother, Ferdinand “Thirdy” Ravena III and the San-en NeoPhoenix continued their winning run as they defeated the Nagasaki Velca, 98-75, at the Nagasaki Prefectural Gymnasium.

The former Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles standout finished with 12 points to go with six rebounds, two assists and two steals as the NeoPhoenix moved up to 28-4 in the standings.

Coty Clarke finished with 21 points, 11 rebounds and six assists. Yante Maten added 19 markers while David Dudzinski, Sota Oura and Kosuke Kanamaru had 17, 16 and 10 markers, respectively.

Matt Bonds tallied a double-double of 22 points and 10 rebounds. Nick Perkins and Masaya Karimata added 12 points each and Kenji Matsumoto ended with 11 as Nagasaki dropped to 14-18./ASC, WDJ