Thirdy Ravena and the San-en NeoPhoenix picked up another loss against the Akita Happinets, 89-79, on Saturday, December 26, at the CNA Arena Akita Hall.

The Happinets improved their record to 15-9 to stand at 8th place in the Japan B. League, while San-en fell to 5-19 in the standings.

Ravena, who finally saw his first start since recovering from COVID-19, chipped in 9 points, 2 rebounds, and 1 assist.

The Filipino stalwart and his team, though, were overpowered by the host squad as American import Alex Davis led the Happinets with 17 points off a 7-of-8 clip from the field.

After trailing Akita by 16 points early in the 3rd quarter, 53-37, the NeoPhoenix unleashed a 14-3 run to enter the final frame down by 7 points, 61-68.

But San-en failed to sustain its momentum even after cutting the deficit to 5 points, 74-69, with 6:23 remaining in the game as the Happinets stretched the lead back to double digits.

San-en’s Serbian import Stevan Jelovac bounced back from his lackluster first half to lead the squad with 16 points to go with 5 boards and 2 assists.

Kyle Hunt and team captain Hayato Kawashima tallied 15 points apiece in the losing effort.

The NeoPhoenix aim to rebound from their second straight loss in another matchup with the Akita Happinets on Sunday, December 27, 1:05 pm Manila time.

The Scores:

Akita 89 – Davis 17, Hosoya 15, Furukawa 13, Tada 8, Oura 7, Ito 7, Colebi 6, Nakayama 5, Yasuoka 5, Carter 4, Nomoto 2, Hasegawa 0.

San-en 79 – Jelovac 16, Hunt 15, Kawashima 15, Ravena 9, Terazono 9, Miljenovic 8, Nishikawa 5, Ota 2, Yamamoto 0, Okada 0, Tsuya 0.

Quarter scores: 30-18, 51-37, 68-61, 89-79.

– Rappler.com