Thirdy plays limited minutes, San-En wins 2nd straight

Photo from San-en NeoPhoenix’s Twitter

MANILA, Philippines — Thirdy Ravena didn’t see many minutes but his San-En club still came away with its second straight win at the expense of Levanga Hokkaido, 80-74, in the Japanese B.League Sunday at Hokkai Kitayeru.

“Of course I’m happy to be back, but I’m most happy that the team has won two consecutive games in a good way,” Ravena said as per the team’s Twitter account.

“There are some things we need to improve as a team, so I would like to prepare well for the next game.”

Still groping for form, Ravena was scoreless and had one rebound, one assist, and a steal while playing only four minutes in just his second game back after recovering from COVID-19.

The NeoPhoenix improved to a 4-17 record but are still at the bottom of the standings tied with Hokkaido.

Stevan Jelovac, Kyle Hunt, and Hayato Kawashima did the heavy lifting for San-en with the foreign reinforcements both tallying double-double and the Japanese guard hitting big shots late to hold off Levanga.

Jelovac put up 22 points and 10 rebounds while Hunt had 20 points, 15 rebounds, and four blocks.

Holding a slim 72-69 lead with around a minute to play, Kawashima stuck a floater with 32.2 seconds to play and give the NeoPhoenix a bit of a cushion with a 74-69 buffer.

Kawashima finished with 19 points.