UNABLE TO complete the comeback, the Ateneo Blue Eagles begin the second round of eliminations with a loss from their archrivals, the De La Salle Green Archers, 86-88, on August 17 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

With the loss, Ateneo currently holds a tournament record of 6-2, which puts them at a three-way tie at first place with the Green Archers and the Far Eastern University Tamaraws. The win, meanwhile, marks La Salle’s sixth straight victory after suffering two early loses to begin their Season 77 campaign.

King Archer Jeron Teng led all scorers with a monster performance of 32 points, six rebounds and five assists. Jason Perkins recorded yet another double double as he tallied 18 points and grabbed 10 boards.

With Almond Vosotros’ bad shooting afternoon, the Green Archers got much needed support from guards Julian Sargent and Robert Bolick who scored 11 and 10 points respectively.

Despite not being able to knock down some of his shots down the stretch, Kiefer Ravena still led the Blue Eagles with 22 points, six boards and six assists. Ravena was unable to make the most out of his trips to the line as he managed to make only 50% of his charities. Chris Newsome, on the other hand, was still able to amass a total of 15 points and five rebounds despite being saddled with four fouls early into the third quarter.

Former Green Archer and San Beda Red Cub Ponso Gotladera played another inspired game against his former team as he tallied a double double performance of his own with 10 points and 15 rebounds, five of which came from the offensive glass. Nico Elorde and Von Pessumal were the fourth and fifth players to score in double figures for Ateneo as they recorded 14 and 10 points apiece, with Elorde managing to dish out five dimes.

Aside from being outscored in the interior, 28-38, the Blue Eagles managed to stay in step with the Green Archers in most of the other aspects of the game. Both teams were evenly matched on the boards as Ateneo hauled in 43 rebounds to La Salle’s 44.

The Blue Eagles once again managed to play well on the perimeter as they scored 42 of their total points from outside the paint as opposed to La Salle’s 28. La Salle, however, led in field goal percentage as they tallied a percentage of 45.45, while Ateneo only managed to make 41.10% of their field goals.

Teng individually outscored the entire Blue Eagles on the free throw line as he made 17 out of his 20 charities, while Ateneo shot a dismal 16 out of a total 24 attempts. The Green Archers were awarded a total of 32 charities, eight more than Ateneo got.

Teng’s 15 first quarter points kept La Salle ahead, 10-19, after 10 minutes of play as the Blue Eagles failed to make most of their shots from the field and the foul line Though Teng would end up scoring only six more points during the half, the strong inside presence of Prince Rivero made it difficult for the Blue Eagles to get any kind of momentum going.

It also did not help that Newsome would be called for his third offensive foul with still 3:57 left to play in the second. At the half, the Blue Eagles trailed La Salle 44-36, after Ravena knocked down a triple with less than 11.6 seconds left to play.

As Ateneo began the second half with more intensity, La Salle responded by playing even tougher defense. Both Bolick and Sargent managed to limit the red hot Ravena to only seven second half points while doing some damage of their own from the perimeter.

Sargent’s trey with 2:06 seconds left in the game that allowed La Salle, 81-77, to pad the lead for the Green Archers.

Despite Newsome picking up his fourth foul during the third period, it was his presence during the final quarter of the game that kept the Blue Eagles in the game as he scored 11 of his 15 during the last 10 minutes of play. He even managed to drill a three with three seconds left in the game to bring La Salle’s lead down to one, 87-86. Unfortunately, a Vosotros split from the line secured the victory for the archers, 88-86.

The Blue Eagles’ next game will be against the University of the East Red Warriors on August 20, Wednesday, 4:00 PM at the Mall of Asia Arena.