Kiefer Ravena. Filoil Flying V Sports Facebook photo
MANILA, Philippines—Kiefer Ravena did the heavy lifting for the ailing Ateneo in dominating rival La Salle, 78-70, Saturday in the 2013 Filoil Flying V Hanes Premier Cup at the Arena in San Juan.
Ravena hit his shots from tough angles on his way to a brilliant 31-point performance for the Blue Eagles, who defeated the Green Archers for the first time in the tournament.
“Every time Kiefer plays that kind of super game, we’ll always be on winning contention. He played that well because his teammates trusted him,” said head coach Bo Perasol.
Ravena got solid support from guard Juami Tiongson and starting center Frank Golla, who had 15 and 12 points, respectively, for Ateneo.
The victory gave the Blue Eagles the top spot in group B in the quarterfinals — but that was before the UAAP champions decided to pull out of all tournament due to surplus of injuries.
Ateneo only had 10 men at its disposal — some of them playing through minor injuries — while G-Boy Babilonia (shoulder), Poy Erram (MCL), Gwynne Capacio (hamstring), Von Pessumal (finger), Kris Porter (knee) are sidelined.
“I think we can’t go on playing like this. I can’t play with 10 players all the time. Probably we can sustain for a game but we can’t sustain that for even half a season,” said Perasol.
But the Blue Eagles hardly looked weak against the Green Archers, even leading by as much as 20 points, 55-35, on a three-point play by Tiongson.
“We were sharing the ball, Frank (Golla) and Juami (Tiongson) were stepping up in the first half. We had a lift from everyone. We were getting loose balls. That was our goal,” said Ravena.
Ateneo had 19 assists compared to La Salle’s nine.
But the Green Archers still managed to conjure a late run to trim the lead down to 70-76 with 1:14 to play as Jeron Teng, who struggled in the first half, decided to take it strong to the hoop.
That was the last gasp of La Salle, though, as it ended the elimination round with a 6-2 card and kept the second spot after the Ateneo pull-out.
Jason Perkins paced the Green Archers with 15 points, while Almond Vosotros and Teng each scored 14.