MANILA – Ilonggo Kiefer Ravena and Shiga Lakes pulled off a come-from-behind 95-92 overtime victory against Veltex Shizuoka in the Japan B.League Division 2 on Friday afternoon, Dec. 29, at the Shiga Daihatsu Arena.
The former NLEX Road Warriors guard tallied 13 points, including a three-pointer that send the game into overtime, to go with three rebounds and three assists as the Lakes improved to 20-7 record.
Brock Motum led the way for Shiga with 22 points, Justin Burrell chipped in 19 markers, while Hayato Wakugawa and Ryan Kriener chipped in 13 and 12 markers, respectively.
Shiga head coach Danny Gomez said he was relieved that they were able to pull off the victory despite struggling with their outside shots as they only converted seven of their 32 total attempts.
“Our three-point success rate was particularly low, so I think that was one of the reasons why we couldn’t widen the point difference. However, I am happy that we were able to deliver a win to the Lakes family as a result,” Gomez said.
Yuzo Okada and Kenny Lawson Jr. finished with 21 points apiece, while Thomas Bropleh and John Harrar had 13 and 11 markers, respectively, as the Shizuoka dropped to 13-14 record.
Meanwhile, Matthew Wright was on fire for Kyoto Hannaryz (8-17) as they defeated the Ibaraki Robots (1-24), 88-71, in Division 1 action at the Adastria Mito Arena.
Wright finished with 24 points, including two three-point connections, to go with five rebounds, two assists, one steal, and one block, while Kevin Jones had a double-double of 28 points and 11 rebounds for the Hannaryz.
Rhon Jay Abarrientos and the Shinshu Brave Warriors (4-21), for their part, suffered a lopsided 73-59 defeat to the Utsunomiya Brex (19-6) over at the White Ring.
The former Far Eastern University Tamaraws star finished with five points, two assists and one rebounds, while teammate Matthew Aquino managed two steals in 13 minutes of action for Shinshu./PN
