By NIKOLE JAVIER
Dwight Ramos is expected to get more minutes for Levanga Hokkaido against Thirdy Ravena and San-En NeoPhoenix as they eye their first win in the Japan B.League on Saturday, Oct. 8.
Ramos, who scored 15 points from a decent 6-of-10 shooting including five rebounds in a losing effort with Hokkaido, is excited and “ready for more” against the revamped NeoPhoenix lineup that still features Ravena.
Hokkaido dropped its first two games of the season against Akita Northern Happinets, first a 95-90 setback on Saturday, Oct. 1, followed by a lopsided 97-74 defeat the next day.
NeoPhoenix, who are coming off an overtime 88-84 loss against the Kawasaki Brave Thunders on Sunday, Oct. 2, are also aching to get out of the slump. Ravena posted 18 points including eight rebounds and six assists in the gallant effort against Kawasaki.
“I’m pretty excited. San-En got like a whole revamped team, new coach, new import, so I saw they had a close game with Kawasaki. So, they definitely got better, I think,” said Ramos in a virtual post-game interview.
“We’re going to prepare well and I’m pretty excited to go against Thirdy because last year, the games at Toyama, they’re really interesting. Really exciting both games. So, I’m looking forward to meeting up with him and just ask him how he’s doing and battle it out on the court,” he added.
The 6-foot-4 guard, who joined the Toyama Grousers in his debut Japan B.League season, was grateful to his new head coach Kenichi Sako for “leaving me out on the court.”
“It’s early in the season and the coach really believes in me and of course, him leaving me out on the court, I just wanna give my best effort and best attitude and just keep playing hard and keep trying to win no matter what the score is,” Ramos continued.