ON THE ropes. With 22.2 seconds remaining, National University’s (NU) Bobby Ray Parks found a wide open Denice Villamor at the left corner for a dagger three that dealt the Ateneo Blue Eagles’ Final Four chances a serious blow. The triple extended the Bulldogs’ lead to five, 68-63, which proved to be enough of a cushion for NU to come away with the crucial 70-65 victory on Wednesday, September 11, at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
The Blue Eagles actually got one more chance to salvage a win as Chris Newsome drained two pressure-packed free throws and Juami Tiongson forced a jumpball against Gelo Alolino that eventually gave Ateneo the possession. Tiongson, however, couldn’t capitalize on the situation as his three-point attempt to tie the game caught just the front of the rim. NU hauled in the rebound off of Tiongson’s miss and Parks would ultimately seal the deal at the charity stripe.
Ateneo got off to a slow start, trailing 2-9 at the initial stages of a game which NU led for a majority of the action. Despite falling behind and playing catch-up for the first three periods, the reigning five-time champions would continue to scratch and claw throughout the match. Ateneo finally took their first lead of the game at the 7:02 mark of the final frame as JP Erram knocked down a jumper to put Ateneo ahead, 53-52. From there on out, it would be a tit-for-tat affair as neither team refused to back down.
The big difference in the payoff period would prove to be the contributions of Villamor. Aside from draining the game’s most crucial basket, Villamor also recorded all but two of his points in the deciding quarter.
Rookie Chris Newsome put the Blue Eagles on his shoulders and led the squad’s comeback bid in the fourth quarter where he tallied 13 of his 17 points. His contributions, however, were not enough to prevent the devastating loss.
Reigning Most Valuable Player Parks spearheaded NU with 24 points while Cameroonian Center Emmanuel Mbe provided the support with a double-double of 17 points and 12 rebounds.
Aside from Newsome, Erram was the only other scorer to hit the double-digit mark with 11 points for Ateneo, which also got 8 points from both Tiongson and Nico Elorde. The Blue Eagles’ main man Kiefer Ravena, however, struggled mightily. Ravena could not find his scoring touch as he recorded just three points on 1-of-9 shooting from the field and 1-of-4 from the charity stripe.
The win proved to be historical for NU as it was the first time the Bulldogs secured a twice-to-beat advantage in the Final Four era and won 10 games in the elimination round. NU can still finish on top of the team standings if De La Salle University (DLSU) wins its final match against University of Santo Tomas (UST) and forces a three-way tie at the top. If loses, Far Eastern University clinches the top seed and NU falls to the second spot.
For the Blue Eagles, the outcome puts them at the fifth spot with a 7-6 win-loss record, trailing UST by half a game. The defeat could prove to be costly but the team remains in the hunt for the last Final Four spot.
Ateneo now faces a must-win situation in their final game of the elimination round against UST on Wednesday, September 18 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Box scores:
ATENEO 65 – Newsome 17, Erram 11, Elorde 8, Tiongson 8, Buenafe 7, Pessumal 7, Golla 4, Ravena 3, Capacio 0, Tolentino 0.
NU 70 – Parks 24, Mbe 17, Villamor 9, Alejandro 5, Alolino 4, Khobuntin 4, Javelona 3, Porter 3, Rono 1, Javillonar 0, Rosario 0.
