Photo by Mario T. Dagdag.
IN THEIR second bout with their archrivals this season, the Ateneo Blue Eagles once again triumphed over the De La Salle Green Archers, 77-67, in front of a crowd of 17,126 spectators at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on the September 1.
The Blue Eagles missed resurgent center JP Erram, who was serving his one-game suspension for earning his second unsportsmanlike foul of the season, while La Salle did not have the services of star point guard LA Revilla, who is still nursing a nagging injury.
Ateneo came off to a flying start, opening with a 4-0 lead care of Kiefer Ravena and Ryan Buenafe. Jeron Teng opened the Green Archers’ scoring at 8:22 to make it 4-2, but it would prove to be their only points in two minutes of play.
While keeping La Salle’s offenses from firing, the Blue and White scored seven points to take their lead up to nine, 11-2, with 6:21 left in the first quarter. Almond Vosotros made his first of four triples to cut the lead down to six, but La Salle went scoreless until Teng made one free throw with 2:09 to go.
Ateneo drained three three-pointers, one from Nico Salva and back-to-back conversions from Buenafe. Free throws were the Green and White’s only source of points for the remainder of the quarter, while Ateneo scored at will. Juami Tiongson’s layup with two seconds to go topped off the quarter at 26-10 in favor of the Blue Eagles.
La Salle tried to close the gap in the second quarter with two consecutive three-pointers from Vosotros that cut their deficit to 10. Ravena, however, made one of two free throws to peg the score at 27-16 with 6:35 left in the half.
When Vosotros hit his third three to cut the lead to six, 29-23, Ravena answered with one of his own to cancel it out. The same happened again when Jed Manguera cut Ateneo’s lead to six as Oping Sumalinog connected from beyond the arc on the other end to make it 35-26.
The Green Archers got to within six once more, thanks to a Manguera free throw and Arnold van Opstal’s conversion. It would be the final points scored, though, as the half ended at 35-29 to Ateneo.
La Salle finally got close at the restart, cutting the lead to just two thanks to four quick points by Jarelan Tampus and Van Opstal. Ravena’s free throws brought Ateneo’s lead back to four, but Tampus cut it to two again, 37-35.
Buenafe sank another three-pointer followed by a Tiongson layup to take their lead to a comfortable seven. Vosotros and Tampus would score four points, and Teng made a three to take the Green Archers to within two yet again, 44-42, but La Salle just couldn’t get the step against their rival as the Blue Eagles exploded for a 13-4 run to end the quarter, 57-46.
La Salle struggled to get themselves back into the game, but star rookie Teng tirelessly pushed the ball. The former Xavier School standout scored most of his team’s points in the quarter, but his attempts proved futile as the closest La Salle got was seven points, 63-70, with less than two minutes to go.
At the final buzzer, the Blue Eagles officially took the lead over La Salle in their match-ups, 35-34, since La Salle joined the UAAP in 1986.
Buenafe had his first big performance since returning from his hiatus, scoring a career-high 24 points complimented with 8 rebounds. Ravena also had a notable 18 points and 7 rebounds. Although Van Opstal held Greg Slaughter to a season-low four points, he still hauled down 11 rebounds and was effective on defense.
Teng continued his prolific scoring for La Salle, scoring 22 with 5 rebounds. Meanwhile, Vosotros tallied a career-high 20 points and 7 rebounds in his best performance so far in a green jersey. Van Opstal also had a near double double, scoring eight points together with eight rebounds.
Ateneo’s shooting from the perimeter has been steadily improving. From 37% against FEU, the Blue and White made 7 of 17 (41%) against La Salle.
“I think one of the big things in our team is the fact that we do have balance,” commented Coach Norman Black about his different players rising to different occasions. “We don’t normally have to rely on one player to carry us every night.” He also went on to say that it can also be attributed players putting their egos aside to let their teammate who’s doing well take up the task of leading the team.
“Actually, last game pa akong ganado maglaro (I was already in the mood to play,)” answered Buenafe when asked if his ejection in the previous game contributed to his mood going into the game. “Ngayon, bumawi na talaga ako (This time, I really made up for it).”
Next up for the Blue Eagles are the UE Red Warriors, 2PM on Thursday, September 6, at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
Box scores:
Ateneo 77 – Buenafe 24, Ravena 18, Salva 12, Tiongson 10, Slaughter 4, Chua 4, Sumalinog 3, Gonzaga 2, Golla 0, Elorde 0
La Salle 67 – Teng 22, Vosotros 20, van Opstal 8, Tampus 8, N. Torres 4, Manguera 3, Mendoza 2, Andrada 0, Paredes 0, T. Torres 0, Tallo 0, Webb 0
