Kiefer Ravena made up for his offensive slump with a key steal in the dying seconds as Ateneo High School stunned La Salle Zobel, 61-56, for its second straight UAAP juniors division crown on Thursday at the Araneta Coliseum.

The son of former pro cager Bong Ravena came through with a big defensive gem, stealing an errant pass by DLSZ's Arnold Van Opstal for Nico Elorde with 4.6 seconds to go before sinking foul shots at the other end to seal the Loyola-based dribblers’ 17th title overall and seventh since Jamike Jarin took over in 1998.

“This is perhaps the toughest championship we ever had because we had to come from behind,” said Jarin, whose team had to overcome the twice-to-beat advantage of the University of Santo Tomas in the Final Four to reach the Finals.

Ravena, the 15-year old third-year guard, had just nine points but was still named the Finals’ Most Valuable Player after averaging 16.0 points, 7.3 rebounds, 4.7 assists, 2.7 steals, and 1.0 blocks in the series.

He highlighted the thrilling finals series with a 33-point explosion in Game 1 as the Blue Eaglets won, 80-73.

However, he was held to only six in the second game as the Junior Archers tied the series with a 57-53 comeback victory.

Raphael Banal, son of coach Joel Banal, led Ateneo with 16 points while Paolo Romero came through with 12 points, six in the payoff period on top of six rebounds.

Romero scored on a drop pass by Ravena with 35.5 seconds left for a 59-55 lead. After Gwynne Capacio split his free throws to cut Ateneo’s lead to three, Ravena lost the ball as he was driving to the basket leading to a turnover.

The Scores:
ATENEO 61 — Banal 16, Romero 12, Pessumal 10, Ravena 9, Sinco 3, Pe 3, Capacio 3, Dumrique 2, Bugarin 2, Reyes 1
LA SALLE 56 — Capacio 15, dela Paz 14, Van Opstal 9, Elorde 8, Herrera 6, Roxas 2, Park 2, Sevilla 0, Fortuna 0.
Quarters: 14-8, 22-22, 42-41, 61-56.