Kiefer, Shiga yield to Ryukyu; Paras fires 17 but Niigata falls short to Akita
By Carlo Anolin
Filipino cagers and their teams in Japan B.League couldn't find their groove as they absorbed back-to-back losses over the weekend.

Kiefer Ravena and the Shiga Lakestars suffered an 82-73 beatdown from the Ryukyu Golden Kings while Kobe Paras and the Niigata Albirex BB fell short against the Akita Northern Happinets, 71-67.
Ravena scored 14 points to go with three assists and three rebounds while Sean O'mara led Shiga with 19 points 13 rebounds, and three assists.
The Lakestars were able to trim the lead to only four points with over a minute left, 71-75, but Koh Flippin sank a jumper to ice the game and put the lead back at six points, 71-77.
Dwayne Evans put the finishing touches by draining a pair of free throws with 29 seconds left to take the game away as Ryukyu remained at the top with a 29-3 record while Shiga sits at No. 18 with a 10-21 card.
Meanwhile, Paras led all scorers with 17 points to go with three rebounds, and two steals but failed to exact revenge against Akita.
Tshilidzi Nephaweand and Yuto Nohmi added 12 and 10 points, respectively, for the Albirex BB.
Niigata trailed by only five points with a minute left, 70-65, but Akita played time wisely as Colton Iverson split his free throw to heighten the gap by six.
The Niigata Albirex BB remained at rock bottom with a 5-31 record.
In other games, the San-En Neophoenix, sans Thirdy Ravena, absorbed a 90-59 routing from the Alvark Tokyo while the Ibaraki Robots and Javi Gomez de Liano turned the tables against the Kyoto Hannaryz, 96-70.
De Liano went scoreless and played limited minutes as Kohei Fukuzawa dominated with 27 points, three assists, two steals and one rebound for the Robots.
San-en, at No. 21, fell to a 5-30 slate while Ibaraki, at No. 19, tied with Kyoto at 8-28 card.