Not even a bum left ankle and the thoughts of facing a team known for its stingy defense could stop Kiefer Ravena in leading Ateneo in its second round surge.
Facing his ‘ghosts’ from last season in National University, it was Ravena’s turn to do the haunting as he went supernova in the first six minutes of the game to give the Blue Eagles a solid cushion in their 68-59 victory over the Bulldogs, Sunday afternoon.
The reigning Most Valuable Player scored Ateneo’s first 21 points, spiked by six threes, before finishing with 32 points in a performance which could go down as one of the best offensive outbursts this season.
For his exploits, Ravena was once again named the ACCEL Quantum/3XVI-UAAP Press Corps Player of the Week after leading the Blue Eagles to their third straight victory. “I guess it’s just one of those nights. I was taking off balanced shots and I was making them,” Ravena said.
What’s more impressive is Ravena took those shots out of necessity.
Lacking the mobility that he used to have after spraining his left ankle in their 80-74 victory over University of Santo Tomas last Wednesday, Ravena had to settle for tough, contested three-pointers early on, and thankfully for the Blue Eagles, he made it all in that stretch. “Wala pa akong explosiveness. Shaky pa cause minadali yung ankle ko, I injured it last Wednesday and we had to prepare for a tough NU team. I did everything. Probably I’m back to 70 percent in this game.”
Looking comfortable playing the role of a facilitator in their past two games before NU, Ravena sent a clear message to the league that if he wants to find shots for himself, he will and he could. But make no mistake about it, even Ravena was in disbelief with his performance in the first period. “The shots were falling, nagulat nalang ako everything was going in. Hindi ko rin alam kung anong nagyari, I just wanted to be in the zone and buti nalang kahit papano, na-shoot yung mga yun,” he said.
Ravena bested the following student-athletes for this week’s honor:
Kevin Ferrer, University of Santo Tomas
Week average: 21 PPG, 26% FG%, 78.5% FT%, 8.5 RPG, 2 3FGM
Win over: University of the Philippines
Lost to: Ateneo de Manila University
Pape Sarr, Adamson University
Week Average: 27.5 PPG, 52.6% FG%, 65% FT%, 15.5 RPG
Win over: De La Salle University
Lost to: National University
Mac Belo, Far Eastern University
Week Average: 16 PPG, 45.5% FG%, 71.4% FT%, 6 RPG, 2 BPG
Win over: University of the East
