SECOND-YEAR GUARD R.R. Garcia put on a career performance to lead the Far Eastern University Tamaraws to victory against the back-to-back champions, Ateneo Blue Eagles, 72-69 on July 11th at the Areneta Coliseum. Matching his career-high of 25, Garcia proved to be the difference in crunch time, burying Ateneo’s chances with superb outside shooting and timely drives to the basket.
Early on, both sides showed signs of big game jitters with sloppy passing and squandering of early opportunities. Ateneo did not score until the three and a half minute mark when Frank Golla nailed a pair of free throws at the line. Rookie forward, Art Dela Cruz, provided a spark late in the quarter, scoring six of the Blue Eagle’s 15 in the opening quarter.
Behind Garcia, who scored 10 of FEU’s 25 points, the Tamaraw’s offense kicked into high gear in the second quarter, taking a five-point lead into the half. Immediately after the break, Ateneo used their explosive fast break to erase the deficit and the game fell into a see-saw rhythm with neither team pulling away. The result: nine deadlocks and 13 lead changes.
After Emman Monfort hit the first Ateneo three-pointer with two minutes and fourteen seconds left in the game, knotting the game at 67, Garcia converted on a pick and roll while drawing contact, resulting in a three point play and a lead that FEU would not relinquish. Ryan Buenafe answered with a second three for the Katipunan-side, but was later ruled a two-pointer.
Ateneo had an opportunity to send the game to overtime after Garcia split a pair of free throws, but Nico Salva’s reverse layup came short. Cervantes made one of two free throws to conclude the scoring.
Salva paced Ateneo with 14, doing his damage from the post while also showing his accurate jump shot from mid range. Buenafe showed his ability to get to the line, hitting seven of eight free throws on the way to thirteen points. But what hampered Ateneo was their poor three-point shooting—missing thirteen of fourteen attempts from beyond the arc.
After the game, Coach Glen Capacio praised his star guard.
“With the departure of Barrocca, he [Garcia] has become the heart of this team. He has the whole team’s support. Despite what happened in the first, we knew he would come back like he did from the second to the fourth,” the coach said.
R.R. later admitted feeling the pressure of the stage, “The first quarter helped because when it got to the second and fourth quarters, I was already in rhythm.”
The Ateneo Blue Eagles play the Adamson Falcons on Thursday, July 15th at 2 pm at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig while FEU face the NU Bulldogs, who look to bounce back from their loss at the hands of Adamson University earlier in the day, on the 17th at 2 pm also at the PhilSports Arena.
Boxscore:
FEU 72- Garcia 25, Cervantes 13, Ramos 10, Sanga 9, Bringas 8, Nondou 3, Romeo 2, Exciminiano 2
ADMU 69- Salva 14, Buenafe 13, Long 11, Dela Cruz 10, Escueta 6, Salamat 6, Monfort 3, Erram 2, Golla 2, Chua 2
Scores by quarter:
11-15, 35-30, 51-52, 72-69
Quite a write up!I feel I’ve seen the ball game, even if I have not. Good to know about every significant move and share in the running excitement of the basketball. This guy Davis should be writing for the national dailies and liven up the sports pages.
Great game, despite the loss. Good to see that ateneo picked it up as things were looking awful in the 4th quarter but if those 3’s were dropping the whole game (and they will start to), this would have been close. I’m not worried in the slightest.
The biggest sigh of relief comes from the fact that we can still compete despite losing al hussaini, baclao and reyes.