Kiefer Ravena’s Shiga survives late Kyoto rally, escapes with one-point win

The Shiga Lakestars had to survive a late rally before escaping with an 84-83 win over the Kyoto Hannaryz in the Japan Professional Basketball League (B.League) on Saturday at the Kyoto City Gymnasium.

Shiga rode a big fourth quarter performance from Ovie Soko to take an 82-77 lead with a little over a minute left to play. But a stubborn Kyoto side led by Justin Harper rallied back to within one point, 84-83, in the dying seconds but could not finish the job.

Soko scored 14 points in the fourth quarter to finish with a game-high 26 points alongside 15 rebounds in the game. Novar Gadson added 19 points, eight rebounds, and six assists for the Lakestars, who improve to 4-1 for the season.

Shiga’s Kiefer Ravena finished with a modest statline, finishing with six points, one rebound, and two steals. He shot 1-for-7 from the field, but went 4-for-6 from the free throw line.

Kyoto (2-3) was led by Justin Harper with 25 points and Tatsuya Suzuki, who had 20 points and 16 assists in the loss.

Kyoto entered the fourth quarter with a four-point lead, 66-62, before Shiga made its move.

Soko opened the final period with an and-one finish and a free throw to bring the Lakestars back within one, 66-65. Ravena then followed that up by scoring his only field goal of the game, a layup that gave Shiga the lead, 67-66.

Harper responded to give the lead back to the Hannaryz before the Lakestars rattled off an 8-2 run – six of those from Soko and two off a Sean O’mara putback – to take a 75-70 lead with 5:09 left.

Despite two more free throws from Ravena for a 77-72 lead, Shiga was far from out of the woods as back-to-back baskets from Worth Smith tied the game at 77-apiece with just over three minutes left to play. Soko would continue dominate for Shiga, converting on two free throws on a second chance attempt and then completing another three-point play, 82-77.

But Kyoto finished with a 6-2 run on free throws by Harper and a basket from Suzuki, though they fell just short in the end, even with Ravena missing two free throw attempts with 11 seconds remaining.

—JMB, GMA News