Kiefer Ravena snaps out of his shooting slump. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
Kiefer Ravena hit two birds with one stone, ending his shooting slump and stopping Ateneo’s losing skid Saturday after an 87-72 win over Adamson in the UAAP Season 78 men’s basketball tournament at Mall of Asia Arena.
Heavily-criticized for forcing shots, Ravena had his most efficient game this season with 20 points on 8-of-16 shooting from the field as the Blue Eagles halted their three-game skid to tie the De La Salle Green Archers in third place with a 5-4 record.
“We agreed that our remaining games will be important because at this point, what we’re trying to do now is to make sure that we’re in a position to be in the Final Four,” said Ateneo head coach Bo Perasol.
“I thought we’re shaky in the beginning but when we got into our groove some of our players who are coming off the bench played exemplary,” Perasol said.
Perasol, who’s been taking flak for relying too much on Ravena, drew 46 points from his bench players led by Aaron Black’s 14 points, all but two of which came in the third quarter, where the Blue Eagles took a 79-58 lead on his buzzer-beating triple.
Gwyne Capacio added 13 points off-the-bench while backup big Vince Tolentino chipped in six points and two rebounds.
“That’s really important for us. Those who can help help Kiefer and his production — that’s really a welcome development for us,” Perasol said.
“The positive things out of this game is first, the production of Aaron, Gwyne, Vince and Isaac Go for a player who doesn’t really play that much he was able to somehow contain Sarr during the latter part of the game,” Ravena told reporters.
Ravena got his teammates involved and finished with 11 assists.
Papi Sarr had 16 points and nine rebounds for the Falcons, whose starting point guard Joseph Nalos got ejected at the 5:23 mark of the third period.
Nalos was thrown out after he pulled down Tolentino’s neck after biting on a fake. Tolentino had his head hitting the floor — triggering Ravena to come to the defense of his teammate.
Ravena shoved Nalos and was called for an unsportsmanlike foul.
“Just a spur of the moment I guess. I saw Vince’s head hit the floor so it was just teammate’s instinct. But I apologized to coach Mike (Fermin) and coach Vince (Hizon) after the incident,” Ravena said. “And I think he (Nalos) didn’t mean to do it. Probably he just did that to break his fall and he didn’t have anything to hold on to so we can’t really put the blame on him.”
Without Nalos, the Falcons had an even harder time to create shots with Sarr and Jaydee Tungcab their only consistent offensive options.
Adamson kept itself in the game in the first half with a 52% shooting clip before Ateneo locked down on defense. The Falcons fell to 1-8.