Blue-chip rookies Ravena, Parks face-off in Ateneo-NU tiff

Ateneo's Kiefer Ravena and National University's Bobby Ray Parks Jr. take a crack at each other for the first time Thursday as the two highly-touted rookies face off in the UAAP Season 74 men’s basketball tournament at the Araneta Coliseum.

All eyes will be on the two high profile rookies in the 1 p.m. match-up but both players said they don't mind the attention given to them and just want to focus on the task at hand. The Blue Eagles hope to remain on top of the pile as they go for their straight third win while the Bulldogs try to keep on their winning track and target their second victory in three outings. "It's NU versus Ateneo, not Kiefer versus Bobby Ray. I'll be relying on my teammates to get the job done," said Parks. "We are just focused on playing NU and hopefully, everything will fall into place," said Ravena. Ravena and Parks bounced back in a big way from their anemic first games as UAAP college players. Ravena had 24 points, 10 rebounds and five steals in leading Ateneo to an 81-72 victory over archrival La Salle last Saturday. Parks did even better scoring 30 on top of his nine rebounds, three assists and two steals as the Bulldogs defeated University of the Philippines, 75-66, to bounce back from a 73-72 overtime loss to University of Santo Tomas on July 14. NU coach Eric Altamirano said that he hopes that the team will not be overwhelmed by the Parks-Ravena hype. "They already know each other playing in the preseason. Both had very good second games so I think we just wanted to focus on NU versus Ateneo so as to deflate the pressure." In the second game, Far Eastern University hopes to get back to its winning ways when it battles University of the East at 4 p.m. After a resounding 74-65 win over La Salle on opening day, the Tamaraws suffered a 78-59 setback against Adamson last Sunday for an even 1-1 win-loss card. FEU hopes to take advantage of its size advantage against UE, which is joined by La Salle at the cellar on a 0-2 card. "We failed to run our fastbreak plays against Adamson because we can't rebound the ball. Hopefully, we can finally do that against UE," said FEU coach Bert Flores. The Red Warriors nearly completed a big comeback from a 21-point deficit but suffered a 70-63 defeat against the UST Growling Tigers last Sunday. Paul Zamar, who was known for his steady outside shooting last year, paced UE's losing cause with 18 points but was 0-of-7 from the three-point range. In the season, he has only made one three-pointer so far in the tournament. – Reuben Terrado/JVP, GMA News