By ADRIAN STEWART CO
MANILA – San-En NeoPhoenix slumped to its second consecutive defeat in the 2020-21 B.League following an 89-79 loss to Akita Northern Happinets at the CNA Akita Arena in Japan on Saturday night.
It was a heartbreaker of a defeat for Ilonggo Ferdinand “Thirdy” Ravena III and his team as they were able to trim once a 14-point deficit to 72-78 with over three minutes left.
Northern Happinets shut the door on the streaking NeoPhoenix with Alex Davis scoring five of the final 11 points for Akita, including the dagger three with 1:56 left to make it an 86-74 affair.
Ravena was held to just nine points on four-of-nine shooting with two rebounds and one assist as the NeoPhoenix slid to a 5-19 record in the Western Division.
Stevan Jelovac led the way for the NeoPhoenix with 16 points, four boards and two assists while Kyle Hunt and Hayato Kawashima both had 15 markers each.
It was the second consecutive loss for the NeoPhoenix after stumbling to Niigata Albirex BB of Allen Durham, 86-79, over a week ago.
The Northern Happinets had the lead for most part of the game and even went up to as high as 18 points in the third period before the NeoPhoenix rallied to within 59-65 with over a minute left.
Akira, however, came up with late hits to increase the lead back to double figures, but San-En was resilient as it trimmed the deficit to as low as six points several times before bowing for good.
Davis was the shining light for the Northern Happinets with 17 points, five rebounds, three blocks, two assists, and two steals as they improved to 15-9 in the Eastern Conference.
Masashi Hosoya chipped in 15 points on three-of-six clip from threes while Takatoshi Furukawa also had 13 built on three treys for the Northern Happinets./PN
