Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
Kiefer Ravena was the personification of the word phenomenal in his first two games in the PBA as he earned the league’s first Player of the Week plum of the season.
Then that roll came to a screeching halt when NLEX ran into Phoenix Sunday at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The Road Warriors was subjected to a 102-95 loss against the Fuel Masters, and Ravena blames for both the loss and subpar performance.
“I think this was my fault, I have to prepare even better in certain situations, and I have no excuses for this,” said Ravena. “I shot pretty bad from the field and I didn’t help the team enough especially down the stretch.”
NLEX was down 98-90 with 3:44 left in the game and with plenty of time on the clock the Road Warriors aggressively tried to cut the deficit down.
The Road Warriors, though, went scoreless for 1:36 after Juami Tiongson missed both jumpers and Ravena missing two straight free throws.
Ravena finally ended the drought with 2:08 left in the period with a layup to cut it to 98-92 but Jason Perkins was quick to counter with a baseline jumper at the 1:45 mark for Phoenix’ 100-92 lead.
“I tasted two wins and a loss in the PBA, but the good thing is we learned from it.”
Ravena averaged 19 points, 8.5 assists, and 4.5 rebounds in his first two games but the Fuel Masters held him to just eight points, on 4-of-13 shooting, seven assists, and one board.
The prized rookie was also minus -26 on the floor after a collective 27 in his first two games.
“I wasn’t able to adjust and prepare myself well, I wasn’t able to find my rhythm right away,” said Ravena. “If Juami and I made those free throws the game would’ve been different.”
“Personally, it was my bad. We’ll learn from this and pick it up for the next game.”