As an über-athletic player, Thirdy Ravena has wowed many with his jaw-dropping highlights.
The second-generation cager had another highlight reel Sunday when his Ateneo de Manila University faced long-time rivals De La Salle University in UAAP Season 82 action. Unfortunately, he was on the wrong end of the show.
With 6:12 to go in the first quarter, Green Archers prized recruit Jamie Malonzo dunked on Ravena.
That clip has now made rounds across social media, and has been talked about a lot. After all, Ravena is usually the one who gets the best of his defender. Fortunately, though, the Atenean star has no problems getting posterized by the one-and-done Malonzo.
“You get blocked, you get dunked on.
“Part of the game,” said the 6-foot-3 guard-forward.
Still, Ravena isn’t sweating about the play, since his Blue Eagles shot down the Green Archers, 81-69. They are now at 2-0 and gained a share of leadership with University of Santo Tomas in the standings.
“It’s a play. [Just] Two points. We won the game. It doesn’t matter — it happens,” said the 22-year-old.
For Ravena, he would rather dwell on the fine play of his teammates in the victory, such as the commendable performances of Matt and Mike Nieto and third-year guard Gian Mamuyac.
The Nieto twins combined for 33 points as they led Ateneo’s second-quarter surge. Meanwhile, Mamuyac had eight of his 14 points in the final frame alone where they fended off the opposition’s rally.
“That’s what we say na ‘next man up’ or ‘sixteen-deep’, na sinasabi namin na you wouldn’t expect anybody to just play the whole game individually. Lahat kami magtutulungan,” he said.
“For example, I was playing bad, I was in foul trouble. Mike, Mamu stepped up. Matt stepped up,” added Ravena, since he had four fouls that limited his playing time to just nearly 17 minutes.
“It really just talks about what we are as a team. I’m pretty sure na kahit sino pa ilagay ni Coach Tab [Baldwin] diyan, they’ll be ready to do the same thing.”
