Kiefer Ravena. FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—Allen Iverson didn’t play but for a brief moment on Wednesday night, the fans saw shades of him in the form of a young star in Kiefer Ravena.
With the game on the line and the clock winding down, Ravena blew past one defender with a quick first step then froze the next two on a step-through move before hitting the last-second layup to win the game—a move the cat-quick Iverson used to do back in his heyday.
“Just taking the opportunity. I found it easy because my teammates were Jeron, Belo, Adeogun and DerMarr so the driving lane really opened,” said the 21-year-old Ravena, recalling his game-winning play that beat Iverson’s team, 98-96, in a charity game at the Mall of Asia Arena.
“It was fun. I saw it as an opportunity to show what I can do,” Ravena said on playing in front of the NBA legend Iverson. “It’s not every day that you have someone like him around. It took him almost 20 years to go back here.”
Ravena finished with 16 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the field to steal the victory for his team PCWorx over the Team Gawad Kalinga, a squad made up of renowned streetball legends coupled with three former PBA players in Jerry Codiñera, Willie Miller and Renren Ritualo.
“It’s really a matter of just Kiefer—from the moment he got the ball he decided he was going to take the last shot,” said coach Tim Cone, who worked his magic anew guiding PCWorx out of a 17-point hole. “He has that uncommon confidence about him and you don’t need to call a timeout when you have a guy like that.”
“Put the ball in his hands he’s going to create something and he created a great shot for himself and he shocked the other team and he got the layup,” added Cone, the winningest coach in PBA history and the only one who won a Grand Slam with two different teams.
The Ateneo guard Ravena teamed up with his fellow college stars in the likes of De La Salle’s Jeron Teng and Far Eastern University’s Mac Belo beefed up by former NBA veteran Dermarr Johnson.
Johnson, who once played as an import for Barako Bull in the PBA, led all scorers with 24 points, including the game-tying 3-pointer with 35.7 seconds left.
Larry “Bone Collector” Williams had 20 points for Team GK, which led most of the game.
Cone was also impressed with Belo, who had 11 points and eight rebounds. “I thought Mac Belo really kept us in the game towards the middle part of the fourth quarter that gave us a chance to win.”
The game was for the benefit of Gawad Kalinga and it was as thrilling as any game could be.
“A very entertaining game. Both teams played hard and both teams played good,” said Iverson, addressing the crowd at center court shortly after the game. “Thank you for coming out and support a great cause.”
Iverson, one of the best guards in the history of the NBA, sat on the bench in street clothes and really didn’t have any intentions of playing. He shared laughs with players from his team, signed autographs and in the waning seconds of the game, may have seen a glimpse of himself on the court.
“What a fitting experience for me and for the team,” Ravena said.