Kiefer Ravena did not hide the humiliation that he and the NLEX Road Warriors felt in their 2018 Commissioner’s Cup opener, Saturday night at the Ynares Center.
Coming off a semifinals exit last conference, the Road Warriors started their campaign with a 103-123 loss to the Columbian Dyip, who now have two wins in their first three games.
“Nakakahiya nga e,” expressed Ravena, who only had nine points. “After the semis berth last conference, bigla kang tatambakan ng bente, ‘di ba?
“Plus may import pa, baligtad.”
Safe to say that the Road Warriors were still on vacation mode during the game, so much so that a 12-point deficit in the second frame turned into 23 inside the game’s final minute.
Moreover, Larry Fonacier was the only local starter to finish in double figures. The rest came from the bench, with veteran big man JR Quiñahan contributing the most with 20.
Defense also became an issue for Ravena and NLEX, as they allowed three Dyip players to finish with 20-plus points — Columbian shot 47.7 percent from the floor, spiked by 11 triples.
“[Reden] Celda had 26, Jerramy King had 23, [Rashawn] McCarthy almost had a triple-double so we got outplayed. Give credit where credit is due,” said the Gilas Pilipinas stalwart.
“Those three guys really killed us.”
With that, Ravena said that they have to wake up and reset their focus quickly for this conference, or else.
“Nasa bakasyon pa yung utak namin lahat. We have to wake up and face reality that we have two more games this coming week, Rain or Shine and Meralco,” rued the 24-year-old combo guard.
“We don’t want to let this conference slip away early from us.”
