Kiefer Ravena and the rest of the Philippine contingent in the B.League will team up come the 2022 B.League All-Star Game set on January 14 at the Okinawa Arena.
Kiefer of Shiga join his brother Thirdy of San-En, Ray Parks Jr. of Nagoya, Dwight Ramos of Toyama, Kobe Paras of Niigata, Javi Gomez de Liaño of Ibaraki, Juan Gomez de Liaño of Tokyo Z, and Kemark Carino of Aomori in the Asian All-Stars.
Completing the team of Asian Quota Players are Brandon Jawato of Utsunomiya, Wang Weijia of Akita, Yang Jaemin of Shinshu, Liu Jin of Nishinomiya, and Lin Chihwei of Fukuoka.
“Very much excited to play against the rising stars of the B. League, and of course with my Filipino brothers here and also from the different countries that are being represented,” said team captain Kiefer about the chance to play with his compatriots in the All-Star festivities.
“It’s going to be a fun event… To all the fans who are very much excited to watch the B.League All-Star Game, hopefully, you can tune in not only in the main game but also watch the rising stars against the Asian Quota Players.”
Matthew Aquino of Shinshu will not be part of the Asian All-Stars as the Filipino-Japanese big man is considered a local in the league.
Aquino will play with the Rising Stars along with Kai Toews of Utsunomiya; Koh Flippin and Keita Imamura of Ryukyu; Yuto Nohmi of Niigata; Takumi Saito of Nagoya; Takuma Sato of Chiba; Taiki Osakabe of Tokyo; Keisuke Masuda and Satoru Maeta of Kawasaki; Ryogo Sumino of Mikawa; Eliet Donley of Osaka; and Ryo Terashima of Hiroshima.
Ryukyu coach Dai Oketani will be the head coach of the Asian All-Stars while Chiba’s Zoran Martichi will call the shots for the league rookies.
Kiefer, Thirdy, Kobe, and Javi will also take part in the side events.
Kiefer will face off against his brother in the Skills Challenge.
Also taking part in the event are Chiba’s Yuki Togashi, Ibaraki’s Asahi Tajima, Kawasaki’s Yuma Fujii, Nagoya’s Takumi Saito, and Kyoto’s Tatsuya Suzuki.
Paras, on the other hand, will join the Slam Dunk Competition and will face Sebastian Saiz of Tokyo and Koh Flippin and Dwayne Evans of Ryukyu.
Finally, Javi will compete in the Three-Point Shootout and will go up against Akita’s Takatoshi Furukawa, Yokohama’s Masaaki Morikawa, Shimane’s Kosuke Kanamaru, Ryukyu’s Ryuichi Kishimoto, and Hiroshima’s Naoto Tsuji.
No Filipino players were selected in the All-Star Game.
