THE ATENEO Blue Eagles secured a finals berth in the 71st Season of the University Athletics Association of the Philippines as they eliminated the University of the East (UE) Red Warriors, 70-50, last September 14, at the Araneta Coliseum.
Ateneo played team basketball throughout the game, winning their eighth consecutive game of the season by scoring 19 points off a UE squad that committed an uncharacteristic 23 turnovers.
Jai Reyes (IV BS CTM) anchored the effort with 13 points. Three other players, namely, Nonoy Baclao (III AB IS), Eric Salamat (III AB IS), Rabeh Al-Hussaini (IV AB IS), also finished with double-figure tallies.
The Blue Eagles went on a tear in the third quarter, scoring 17 points while limiting UE to a mere seven, scoring off the turnovers forced on the Red Warriors through tight defense, highlighted by an emphatic Baclao block in the third period.
After the Eagles went on a 7-0 run in the first minutes of the fourth quarter, UE was unable to come within 20 points the rest of the way.
“We expected UE to start strong, which is why we had to limit their scoring by playing hard-nosed defense and staying composed early on,” Reyes said.
Early in the first quarter, Ateneo struggled to score, going only two for ten from the field. Key substitutions by coach Norman Black changed the game. Reyes and Salamat fueled a 16-0 run, coupled with key defensive stops to carry the Eagles with a 21-11 lead.
The Eagles kept their momentum, as tough team defense kept the Red Warriors at bay, limiting them with only two points in the first five minutes of the second quarter.
Comeback attempts by UE were withstood, as huge baskets by center Al Hussaini kept the team in the lead, ending the first half leading, 32-21.
Salamat finished with 11 points and 7 rebounds to lead the Ateneo bench.
Ateneo will next face archrival De La Salle University on September 21 in the two teams’ fourth finals match-up in 20 years.
Editor’s note: The Ateneo-La Salle match-up was wrongly written as the fourth in a decade, when it should have been the fourth in 20 years. The GUIDON apologizes for this error.
This will be the fourth championship series between the two schools in the LAST 20 years. The first was in ’88, then in ’01 and ’02. Please change accordingly.
Otherwise, One Big Fight!