By ADRIAN STEWART CO

Kiefer Ravena struggled with a season-low performance as the Shiga Lakes secured an 85-72 victory over the Koshigaya Alphas in Japan B.League Division 2 at the Shiga Daihatsu Arena.

The Iloilo City-native ended up with just one point, missing all of his five field goal attempts, to go with four rebounds, four assists and one steal in almost 27 minutes of action for the Lakes.

Lakes head coach Danny Gomez stated that Ravena’s cold shooting game was a normal occurrence for any basketball player, but he is happy that his other point guards have stepped up.

“As I told the team, when someone is good, there are times when someone is bad [at] basketball, so Kiefer [Ravena] was good [last Friday], but he was not that good today,” Gomez said in a post-game interview.

“I am happy that other players like Soto [Wakugawa] stepped up today for Ravena. I believe that he is a player who can be included in the Japan national team in the future,” he added.

Wakugawa top-scored for the Lakes with 24 points, including four three-point conversions, to go with eight rebounds, six assists and five steals as the Lakes improved to a 31-12 record.

Brock Motum also ended with 24 points while also hitting four outside shots. Ryan Kriener chipped in 12 points, and James Burrell played his 500th game in the league and tallied 11 points.

Justin Harper top-scored with 20 points to go with eight rebounds, while L.J. Peak added 19 markers as the Alphas suffered their second straight defeat to the Lakes, dropping to 25-18.

Meanwhile, Roosevelt Adams made his offensive contributions, but the Yamagata Wyverns suffered a 90-79 defeat to the Fukushima Firebonds at the Yamagata City General Sports Center.

Adams, a former no. 1 overall pick by Terrafirma Dyip in the PBA, finished with 10 points to go with three rebounds and a steal in almost 16 minutes of action for the slumping Wyverns./ASC, WDJ