4th gold sweetest of all – Ravena

KUALA LUMPUR – For Kiefer Ravena, his latest gold medal in the Southeast Asian Games is definitely the sweetest.

Ravena formally clinched his fourth gold medal when Gilas Pilipinas clobbered Indonesia, 94-55, in the final of the 29th SEA Games men’s basketball competition late Saturday at the MABA gym here.

One of the best players in the amateur ranks today, Ravena became the winningest cager in the regional stage to surpass Rommel Adducul, who campaigned in the 1997 Jakarta, 1999 Brunei and 2001 Kuala Lumpur editions of the biennial meet.

“Fourth SEA Games, fourth gold medal… Wow!” said Ravena, who also served as the cornerstone of the country’s campaign in the 2011 Palembang, 2013 Myanmar and 2015 Singapore SEA Games.

“Every time I play in the SEA Games, it gets better and better. So I think this is the most special one for me.”

True enough, Ravena’s road to his fourth mint was never easy.

Gilas Pilipinas flirted with disaster before running away with an 81-74 victory over Thailand in the group stage.

Then, in a furious match against the host country, the Filipinos had to survive the ejection of Carl Bryan Cruz and Baser Amer before tallying a 98-66 victory followed by another narrow win over Singapore, 68-60, to punch a ticket to the finals.