AFTER BOUTS with diabetes and hyperthyroidism threatened to mar his career, LA Revilla opted not suit up for the La Salle Green Archers. Two years later, though one of the smallest players on the floor—second to Ateneo’s Emman Monfort—Revilla’s big game antics were what carried his team to victory against the Ateneo Blue Eagles on June 5 at the San Juan Arena.
In the dying minutes of the fourth, as Ateneo was looking to make a comeback, DLSU head coach Dindo Pumaren turned to his point guard. Revilla, who clocked in the most minutes with 26 whilst finishing as the team’s highest scorer, revitalized a La Salle crowd hungry for victory, making back-to-back triples and consecutive lay-ups to put the game away for good.
The Green Archers’ crucial 66-61 win over Ateneo gave the Taft side the eighth and final seed in the playoffs, and a chance to play the Blue Eagles again later in the tournament.
With the Blue Eagles struggling to make their jumpshots, La Salle piled the pressure on early. The athletic 6’8” Archer Arnold Van Opstal guarded Greg Slaughter effectively, using his length to deny the seven-footer any comfort in the post. Slaughter would be benched after picking up two early fouls. Ateneo’s shooting woes were apparent, as the Blue and White only made one field goal in the first three minutes; the first canto ended at 17-10.
In the second, Blue Eagle head coach Norman Black looked to his bench, plugging in Bacon Austria, Justin Chua, Juami Tiongson and crowd-favorite Kiefer Ravena. Frank Golla took Slaughter’s place—still benched due to foul trouble. Ateneo’s veterans made a run as Salva, Long and Monfort combined for 11 points before the half. Monfort’s three capped the run and La Salle’s lead was cut to five, 36-31.
Slaughter would come back in the third without any offensive touches, and Ateneo’s interior defense suffered as La Salle made pinpoint passes to free their post players. Ateneo played catch-up for most of the quarter, but a buzzer beating three from Austria brought Ateneo within one, 49-48.
Having been down for majority of the game, Ravena tried to lead a comeback in the fourth after making an and-one play. Ravena however, missed the bonus free throw. Afterwards, DLSU’s Norbert Torres sprawled out in the floor clutching his elbow in pain giving both sides time to regroup.
The Eagles grabbed the lead, only to be diminished by a blitzing 8-0 La Salle run which capitalized on Ateneo’s poor shooting and lazy passes. A three brought the Blue Eagles within in striking distance yet again, this time it was Salva who made the clutch basket to even the score at 61.
That was the closest the Blue Eagles got. Revilla took over from there, dispatching Ateneo’s defense, flicking floaters in the lane with impunity. Ateneo could not recover, unable to convert any shots in the last 20 seconds. Their last attempt ended in a turnover, sealing the win for the Green Archers. Eventually, the game ended on a sour note for the Katipunan side with a final score of 66-61.
The defeat was the second Ateneo had suffered at the hands of their rivals, the first being an exhibition game in Dubai in early April, 62-58.
Revilla led the Archers with 12 points, scoring ten in the fourth while swingman Joseph Marata added 10 markers. Salva notched a game-high 18 points in a losing effort, followed by Ravena with 10.
Slaughter was limited to only two points in 12 minutes of play, as he never gained an offensive groove, sitting out with foul trouble. Both teams would shoot badly from downtown (ADMU 5-14, DLSU 4-17) and Ateneo even had the edge from the line (14-19 compared to 10-22 for La Salle). But DLSU’s shooting would make the difference, making 22-55 of their 2-point field goals while outrebounding a weakened Ateneo frontline, 45-39. Ateneo had a whopping 19 turnovers compared to La Salle’s 10.
The crowd of Blue looked dazed in the dying minutes of the fourth quarter, wondering what had happened to their top-seeded team, who were outhustled in the rebounding department and in the passing lanes.
The loss knocked Ateneo off a top spot, dropping them to a three-way tie with San Beda and San Sebastian. In the first round of the playoffs, Ateneo is set to play the Mapua Cardinals on Monday, June 6, 11:00 a.m. at the San Juan Arena, while La Salle will take on the FEU Tamaraws at 4:00 p.m. in the same venue.
Earlier, the San Beda Red Lions clobbered the UST Growling Tigers, 85-72.
June 6, 2011 Quarterfinal Schedule:
11:00 a.m. Ateneo vs. Mapua
2:00 p.m. San Beda vs. UP
4:00 p.m. FEU vs. DLSU
6:00 p.m. Adamson vs. San Sebastian
Quarter scoring:
17-10, 36-31, 49-48, 66-61
Scoring Leaders:
DLSU – 66: Revilla 12, Marata 10, Dela Paz 9, Atkins 8, Andrada 5, Paredes 5, Torres 4, Mendoza 4, Van Opstal 3, Villanueva 2, Gotladera 2, Vosotros 1, Webb 1, Tampus 0
ADMU – 61: Salva 18, Ravena 10, Long 7, Monfort 7, Chua 7, Austria 6, Tiongson 4, Slaughter 2, Golla 0, Gonzaga 0, Sumalinog 0, Erram 0
[…] Ateneo vs. La Salle. I felt that The Blue Eagles didn’t play 100 percent yesterday, they looked tired and overworked having just returned from training in the United States. Maybe it’s because the game was pretty much no-bearing. And looking at their game/training schedule, it’s been non-stop since they arrived on Monday. They started training on Tuesday, had a game on Thursday, and now they’re in the midst of a string of consecutive games: yesterday against La Salle, today a game in the Fr. Martin’s cup (do not know against who), and then tomorrow (Monday) against Mapua for the quarterfinals of the Filoil Flying V tournament. FYI that game is at 11:00 AM at the San Juan Arena. Still there’s no excuse for the mediocrity of that game, it was actually pretty messy from both sides. Like my friend Job de Leon tweeted, “in such a messy game it didn’t feel that we were down by 10, and the turnover by Kirk (in the last few seconds of the game) was the exclamation point how the Blue Eagles pretty much played the entire game.” You can read the GUIDON game recap here. […]