MANILA, Philippines — Definitely no luck involved.
Fresh off bringing home the William Jones Cup title, guard Kiefer Ravena raved about winning two international championships this year.
The Filipino playmaker, back in May, won the Japan B.League B2 championship with the Shiga Lakes.
A few days ago, he won the Jones Cup championship as he came in huge in the clutch for Strong Group-Pilipinas against Chinese Taipei-A, 83-79, in overtime.
In an Instagram post, the 30-year-old Ravena thanked his team, his family, the Strong Group management, his fans and even those who doubted him.
“Two international championships this 2024. When no one else believed, God did! To everyone who didn’t, thank you for always pushing me to be better, You guys are the best!” he posted on his social media page.
“To all my teammates, you guys are special. We all understood how it took to win. It wasn’t all beautiful but we stuck to it. Stayed the course and eventually won it all,” he added, as he tipped his hat to Shiga and Strong Group Athletics.
“Lastly, I thought it was luck.. until I did it again.”
After winning seven straight games to open the Jones Cup, the Philippines came face-to-face with Chinese Taipei A, which was also undefeated in the tourney.
With Chris McCullough struggling the whole game, the home team went up by seven, 71-64, with about a minute and eight seconds left in the fourth quarter.
But SGA clawed back, retaliating with a 9-0 run capped by a Ravena 3-pointer to go up by two, 73-71, with 13.2 seconds remaining.
The game ultimately went to overtime, and the Philippine squad made big plays down the stretch to win their seventh Jones Cup title.
Ravena’s teammate, RJ Abarrientos, also looked back on SGA’s title run.
He posted photos of the tournament with the caption “In Jesus’ name, I play!"