The Rescuers
Ateneo 64 vs. UST 57
by rick olivares
Sunday August 3 2008
Araneta Coliseum
Once in awhile, the basketball gods play a trick on teams. You know… to spice things up. And the Ateneo de Manila Blue Eagles are no stranger to that. Last season, the team seemed to be headed for that all-important twice-to-beat advantage. It was in the palm of their hands. The Blue Babble Battalion seemed to think so as they did their traditional halftime joke reserved for the penultimate game of the elimination round. We all know what happened after that.
Just last week, the tricksters of fate played their hand again as the team fell to FEU. The rest of the league was playing catch-up to that point and Ateneo’s loss elicited some mad scrambling and even some doubts and jokes.
Only the gods weren’t done. In Upset Weekend, the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons put a huge damper on the Adamson Falcons’ campaign. The University of the East Red Warriors dumped the De La Salle Green Archers, the hottest team in the league. And the National University Bulldogs barged into the win column to send the FEU Tamaraws crashing down to earth.
Leave it up to the team that started this madness to right the ship once more.
The UST Growling Tigers are the type of team to give us problems. They are like the Tamaraws except that they’ve got a super center to create even more nightmares for opposing mentors. More importantly, they still have this swagger about them whenever they face the Blue Eagles ever since they edged Ateneo for the 2006 crown. Never mind if Kirk Long did a Doug Kramer on them last year and they were eventually eliminated in the knockout match en route to the Final Four. Never mind too the rout in the Champions League that sent them home for the semestral break last year after all -- they’re still one title up.
The Tigers have hoped to reprise the magic of ’06 but the one player who has yet to transform this team into a dangerous one is Khasim Mirza. Injured earlier and benched for disciplinary reasons, it was only in their last game that he showed signs of life. Yet the streaky player chose the game against Ateneo to make his dramatic reentry as one of the league’s best firemen.
At the 5:41 mark of the third quarter, Ateneo curiously fielded a small line-up (not necessarily a faster one since the Tigers are just as fast if not faster) to do battle with the much taller Tigers. Baclao was on the bench obviously tuckered out. A bad cold had him huffing and puffing and chasing UST’s Dylan Ababou all over the court wasn’t helping any. In their place were Chris Tiu, Ryan Buenafe, Rabeh Al-Husseini, Jai Reyes, and Bacon Austria.
Incredibly the gamble seemed to work for a few minutes as Tiu (14 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists, and 3 steals) laid the ball in for a 43-33 lead.
UST captain Francis Allera then uncorked 10 of his 13 points to cut down the Blue Eagle lead to four 49-45.
At one point during the third, Mirza was at the top of the left three-point arc clapping his hands and begging for the ball. But Tigers quarterback Jeric Fortuna instead swung it the other way around to Ababou. Mirza shook his head and on his way back on defense called Fortuna’s attention about his being wide open.
Once the pay-off period started, the ball was finally in the swingman’s hands. Mirza drove for a lay-up to start the scoring. Given a little daylight, he then tossed in a trey that gave UST its first taste of the lead at 50-49. With the UST gallery egging him on, he hit a long fadeaway two-pointer that gave UST its last lead at 54-51. As he met up with Ababou at midcourt for a chest bump and a yell, UST Head Coach Pido Jarencio punched the air: “Siya yung hinihintay namin pumutok.”
Crucial time out Ateneo. Mirza's hot hand and UST's zone had thrown Ateneo in disarray.
After a coach sues for time, there’s nothing more satisfying than the offensive pattern being executed to the letter for a deuce or making a huge defensive stop. In this case, the Blue Eagle’s power frontline took the game inside.
UST was concerned about Rabeh Al-Husseini’s dominating the paint that part of their game plan was as soon as the Blue Eagle center received the ball, he was to be immediately double-teamed. If he lowered the ball, the Tigers were ready to swipe at it; something they did with much success as Al-Husseini was discombobulated in the first half.
In seasons past, when an opponent was able to take away Al-Husseini’s offense, they’d attack him immediately on the other end to send him back to the bench. There was no respect for his game whatsoever. If he did score in double figures before, it was, as one coach would like to say, “Because of the open looks he got from JC Intal, Macky Escalona, or Chris Tiu making things happen.” Another player had even more adverse sentiments: “Chibugan time.” Japs Cuan used to drive to basket at him totally unafraid.
Only this season, they were up against the new and improved Eagle slotman. One can actually say that Ateneo now has its super center and Cruz has to accord him a measure of respect. UST’s center may have beaten him in the battle of the boards 15-6, but Al-Husseini dumped 17 points many on the reigning league MVP including his first ever game dunk in a blue jersey as he beat Fortuna down low on the break. That flush gave Ateneo a 33-25 lead back in the 3rd quarter.
Following Mirza’s dramatic shot with 5:38 left, Al-Husseini threw in a hook for two. Ryan Buenafe added a free throw then Nonoy Baclao (2 points, 11 rebounds, 1 assist, and 4 shot blocks) lost Ababou on a back pick for an inbound nakaw from Jai Reyes to give the lead back to Ateneo 56-54.
The Blue Eagles would not surrender the lead anymore with the much-maligned Jai Reyes (10 points, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals) hitting the biggest shot of the game, a blistering three-pointer to hike the margin to 61-54 with 29.8 seconds left.
In the loss to FEU, Ateneo was held scoreless in the final five minutes of the game. And maybe in a bit of mischief by the basketball gods, it was UST’s turn to hit an empty well as they were held scoreless for over five minutes as the match was entering its twilight zone. Their final points were in the dying seconds – a harmless three by Allera to close out the scoring at 64-57 and the first round of games.
It wasn’t only the Tigers who were held scoreless. Game analyst Mark Molina’s microphone tuckered out leaving color commentator Boom Gonzales to carry on by himself. “As if the game wasn’t already exciting and tiring to cover because of the adrenaline rush then you have to do the game by yourself,” said the veteran sportscaster who has witnessed one too many cardiac games between the two teams. “You can’t complain though. It was a classic game.”
Note:
In the Press Room afterwards, Ateneo mentor Norman Black extolled Baclao’s impact on the game to the assembled media. Nowhere will you find a statline that belies belief. Baclao had only scored 2 points yet his crucial defensive stops on Mirza, Ababou, and Cruz forced the Tigers to try and beat Ateneo from the outside. Except that they shot at a poor 26.2% clip. “He erases our mistakes,” succinctly summed the elated coach whose team topped the first round with a 6-1 mark.
When Black turned around, his interview done, his lanky power forward has ambled right in. “Oh, there you are,” smiled the fourth-year mentor. “I was just saying good things about you. It’s your turn (referring to his being next in the Q&A with the press).”
The 6’4” forward smiled and nervously whispered to me, “Matagal ba ‘to? Nakakahiya. Anong sasabihin ko?”
I told him it wouldn’t take too long and that they just wanted to ask him a few questions. “So Nonoy,” asked one scribe. “Na rescue mo ulit yung Ateneo sa depensa mo…”
Ateneo 64 - Al-Husseini 17, Tiu 14, Buenafe 12, Reyes 10, Salamat 3, Baldos 2, Nkemakolam 2, Baclao 2, Salva 1, Long 1, Austria 0, Escueta 0
UST 57 - Ababou 15, Allera 13, Mirza 8, Cruz 8, Fortuna 6, Bautista 3, Camus 2, Canlas 2, Fenequito 0, Gile 0, Taylor 0
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