San-en Neophoenix’s Thirdy Ravena. –B.LEAGUE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Thirdy Ravena and the San-En NeoPhoenix absorbed their fourth straight defeat at the hands of the Hiroshima Dragonflies, 84-74, as other Filipinos also absorbed tough losses in the 2022-23 B.League on Saturday.
Ravena unleashed 22 points, four assists, and one rebound but his effort went for naught as San-En slid to a 12-16 record after getting swept by Hiroshima in back-to-back games.
The Dragonflies, who released seldom-used forward Justine Baltazar weeks ago, tightened their hold of the second seed with an improved 23-5 record as Dwayne Evans II completed the sweep of the NeoPhoenix with 26 points, while Kerry Blackshear Jr. provided the spark from the bench with 20 points.
Kyle O’Quinn helped Ravena with a double-double performance of 16 points and 15 rebounds.
On Friday, San-En absorbed a 93-81 loss to Hiroshima, where Ravena tallied eight points, nine assists, and five rebounds.
Meanwhile, Bobby Ray Parks Jr. and the Nagoya Diamond Dolphins yielded to the Utsonomiya Brex with a heartbreaking 80-79 setback at Brex Arena Utsunomiya.
FILE–Ray Parks. Photo from Nagoya Diamond Dolphins
Parks delivered 14 points and four rebounds but he couldn’t extend Nagoya’s two-game win streak as Makoto Hiejima sank a game-winning free throw with one second left.
Scott Eatherton made a crucial layup to tie the game, 79-all, with seven seconds remaining. But Maurice Ndour fouled Hiejima, who missed the first attempt but nailed the go-ahead second free throw. The Dolphins had a chance to steal the game but Takumi Saito committed a turnover from his bad pass.
Yusuke Endo and Isaac Fotu led the Brex to an improved 12-15 record with 17 and 15 points, respectively.
Eatherton had 17 points and 11 rebounds for Nagoya, which dropped to 19-8 in the sixth seed.
Meanwhile, Kiefer Ravena tallied 15 points, three rebounds, two assists, and two steals but the Shiga Lakes suffered their 10th straight defeat at the helm of the Akita Northern Happinets, 84-77, at Shiga Daihatsu Arena.
Shiga leaned on Jordan Hamilton, who posted 20 points, 14 boards, and eight dimes, but it continued to reel at the bottom of the standings with a 4-23 card.
Matthew Wright and the Kyoto Hannaryz absorbed their second consecutive defeat after falling to the Sunrockers Shibuya, 94-88.
Wright had nine points, three assists, and two rebounds. His teammate, Cheick Diallo powered Kyoto with 28 points and 17 boards but Kyoto slid to a 10-17 record.
Dwight Ramos missed his 16th game due to an ankle injury as the Levanga Hokkaido (7-19) lost to Osaka Evessa (12-14), 91-83.