Die Hard
Ateneo 74 vs. FEU 73
by rick olivares
Ateneo 74 vs. FEU 73
by rick olivares
“What do you want to do with this game?”
The Ateneo de Manila Blue Eagles were down by only three points to the Far Eastern University Tamaraws 35-32 at the half yet they seemed to be unable to get into a rhythm. In almost every statistical category they were getting their butts kicked.
They overhauled an 11-point deficit in under four minutes with a flurry of treys and garden-variety three-point plays early in the second quarter if only to prove that they could handle FEU when they’ve got their game on. But the Tams’ zone was giving the Ateneans fits. Without a legitimate lowpost presence as Rabeh Al-Hussaini was saddled with two personal fouls early on, the Blue Eagles had to settle with outside shots to get back in the game.
Matches like these are important regardless whether they’ve clinched the twice-to-beat advantage or not. One can make an argument that they rather play the University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigers with their relatively lighter and smaller line-up instead of the tougher University of the East Red Warriors who are peaking at the right time. But the truth of the matter is this is a point where one would like to keep the wins coming more so since the series played from hereon are shorter unlike in the professional game where one can still make a comeback in a longer series.
The Tamaraws, on the other hand, have slipped a notch in the second round where their play has been uninspired and disorganized. Yet even such, they are a dangerous bunch and have the firepower to match Ateneo. They know they can beat Ateneo and a convincing win over the front-running Blue Eagles would be that match to push them to a higher gear.
“Do you want to win this game?”
Norman Black faced his wards inside the locker room at halftime and asked them the second of two questions. Their zone and rotation wasn’t only in shambles but they were slower to the ball. The early fireworks display by Eric Salamat got them back in the game but the Tamaraws quickly put some distance between them.
The fifth-year Ateneo coach exhorted them to play more vigorous defense even without the foul-plagued Rabeh Al-Hussaini and to have a hand in every shooter’s face. The Blue Eagles collectively voiced a promise to bounce back in the second.
But once more they came out flat while Tamaraw forward Paul Sanga was smoking from the perimeter. The lanky reed thin forward carried the cudgels for his team that was missing the injured Pipo Noundou and a silent Ryan Garcia, JR Cawaling and Mark Barroca who had not scored since dropping 8 points in the opening period. He dropped three treys and a twinner from far out that had the Ateneans reeling.
Black put his hands to his head as FEU’s back-up guard Jens Knuttel drove inside for a lay-up that gave his side a 18-point lead at 57-39 with time running down on the third quarter. Emman Monfort knocked down a triple at the buzzer to pare the lead down to 15; a shot that sent a shiver down FEU Coach Glenn Capacio’s spine. “Ayaw mo magbigay ng chance ang kalaban mo ng tira ng ganyan kasi pwedeng tuloy-tuloy nay an para sa kanila,” he would say later.
And as the fourth quarter started, Capacio’s worst fears were confirmed as Ryan Buenafe who had been sterling of late scored on a drive to further slice the lead to 13. It was the first time Ateneo had put up consecutive points on the board since early in the second quarter as they were both bothered by FEU’s defense and betrayed by poor shooting.
Cawaling’s one free throw was sandwiched in between Ateneo captain Nonoy Baclao’s putback and the last of Eric Salamat’s four three-pointers. The rally was officially on at 58-50. FEU called for time and as both teams headed for their benches, Baclao exhorted his teammates, “Kaya natin ‘to. Hindi pa ‘to tapos.”
For the second time in the game, the Blue Eagles, their fighting hearts bolstered with heart-stopping wins and gritty comebacks that have been the hallmark of the Norman Black years, strapped on their on hardhats as they mounted another improbable comeback.
Shutting down the interior and sticking to FEU’s outside gunners, the Blue Eagles finally regained the lead at 62-61 with a Jai Reyes trey at the 4:25 mark to cap a 19-3 blast. It was Ateneo’s third first taste of the lead since Salamat’s opening triple that gave the Blue Eagles a 3-2. Al-Hussaini would play only 24 minutes but Baclao, finally totally healthy after fracturing his hand in their first round match versus La Salle, stood tall in the middle even as Nico Salva was sent off for an alleged punching foul. Baclao finished with 12 points and corralled 18 huge boards – half of them coming on the offensive glass – to go with 3 blocked shots and altered several more.
After a sterling Season 71, Baclao struggled with nagging injuries and his numbers went down as a result. While never one to look at the stat sheet, his over-all presence is integral to Ateneo’s success. With his numbers down, FEU’s Aldrech Ramos, another defensive monster has quietly slipped into Baclao’s slot as the eminent forward-center with his ability to score from inside and outside while playing great D.
Baclao cares for none of that and has a healthy respect for foes but that does not diminish the warrior’s ferocity he has in his heart. After Ramos scored on him, the Ateneo captain returned the favor with an and-one to make it 65-63 for the blue and white.
It was a war of attrition from there; a case of who would blink first.
After Ateneo raced to a 68-63 lead following a Jai Reyes triple, Sanga dropped in one of his own with an Atenean all over him to edge closer with 2:03 left to play. There was still plenty of fight in these Tamaraws.
Following a Monfort moving pick that gave the ball back to FEU with the score 69-68 Ateneo, Ryan Garcia blew by the pint-sized Atenean and found only Reyes (who was being posted by Barroca) in his path. It was an excellent execution of spotting a mismatch and Garcia scored off the window to make it 70-69 FEU.
Black countered by sending in the taller Buenafe in for Monfort to take away that disadvantage. It paid dividends for the super soph fished Knuttel’s fifth and final foul and deposited both free throws owing to FEU being in penalty. 71-70 Ateneo.
The two teams’ verve was tested in the clutch as Kirk Long and Garcia trooped to the 15-foot line. The Blue Eagle made one while the Tamaraw hit both to tie the match at 72-all.
With 30 seconds left in the game, Baclao took the inbound pass from Reyes and handed it off to Salamat to create. The fourth-year guard drove from the left side and attracted three Tamaraws freeing him for a drop pass to Al-Hussaini who scored with a lay-up off the glass.
Just when it seemed that Ateneo had pulled off the win after Reil Cervantes missed a fifteen-foot jump shot, a referee whistled Al-Hussaini for his fifth and final foul. Al-Hussaini scored only 7 points and pulled down 2 rebounds. He ran to the Ateneo bench in disbelief. There were 2.1 seconds left in the match and FEU had an opportunity to send it to extra time and face Ateneo without its slotman.
Cervantes coolly made the first but his second hit back iron and tumbled into the right side. Kirk Long was playing the opposite end of the hash marks and scooted in for the defensive board as time ticked away.
Ateneo beat FEU 74-73 in one of the worst-officiated matches of the season but was at the same time one of the most thrilling. The wrapped up the number one seed, their second objective of the season (the first was to make the Final Four while the third is to win the championship) to close out the final game of the eliminations.
“We survived it,” sighed Black after the game. “What a game, huh?” He paid tribute to his players for not giving up in spite of the seemingly insurmountable odds and to the Tamaraws who had given them all sorts of trouble. “People stepped up on both sides. We all wanted the game, that’s for sure. We showed our fighting heart.”
When the assembled media asked Al-Hussaini what he thought of the titanic struggle… he answered Black’s question that was posed during the half, “Gusto lang namin manalo. Hindi pa ‘to tapos.”
Ateneo 74 – Salamat 20, Reyes 13, Buenafe 12, Baclao 12, Al-Hussaini 7, Monfort 6, Long 4, Sumalinog 0, Salva 0, Chua 0, Austria 0
FEU 73 – Sanga 19, Ramos 16, Garcia 8, Barroca 8, Cervantes 7, Cawaling 6, Tanuan 4, Knuttel 4, Vinluan 1, Caluag 0
Starter scoring
Ateneo – 56 points
FEU – 50 points
Bench scoring
Ateneo – 18 points
FEU – 23 points
Fastbreak points
Ateneo – 11 points
FEU – 2 points
Second chance points
Ateneo – 15 points
FEU – 14 points
Turnover points
Ateneo 20 points
FEU 21 points
Rebounds
Ateneo – 35 (15 offensive)
FEU – 49 (23 offensive)
Assists
Ateneo – 11
FEU – 16
Steals
Ateneo – 7
FEU – 6
Blocks
Ateneo – 4
FEU - 1
The Ateneo de Manila Blue Eagles were down by only three points to the Far Eastern University Tamaraws 35-32 at the half yet they seemed to be unable to get into a rhythm. In almost every statistical category they were getting their butts kicked.
They overhauled an 11-point deficit in under four minutes with a flurry of treys and garden-variety three-point plays early in the second quarter if only to prove that they could handle FEU when they’ve got their game on. But the Tams’ zone was giving the Ateneans fits. Without a legitimate lowpost presence as Rabeh Al-Hussaini was saddled with two personal fouls early on, the Blue Eagles had to settle with outside shots to get back in the game.
Matches like these are important regardless whether they’ve clinched the twice-to-beat advantage or not. One can make an argument that they rather play the University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigers with their relatively lighter and smaller line-up instead of the tougher University of the East Red Warriors who are peaking at the right time. But the truth of the matter is this is a point where one would like to keep the wins coming more so since the series played from hereon are shorter unlike in the professional game where one can still make a comeback in a longer series.
The Tamaraws, on the other hand, have slipped a notch in the second round where their play has been uninspired and disorganized. Yet even such, they are a dangerous bunch and have the firepower to match Ateneo. They know they can beat Ateneo and a convincing win over the front-running Blue Eagles would be that match to push them to a higher gear.
“Do you want to win this game?”
Norman Black faced his wards inside the locker room at halftime and asked them the second of two questions. Their zone and rotation wasn’t only in shambles but they were slower to the ball. The early fireworks display by Eric Salamat got them back in the game but the Tamaraws quickly put some distance between them.
The fifth-year Ateneo coach exhorted them to play more vigorous defense even without the foul-plagued Rabeh Al-Hussaini and to have a hand in every shooter’s face. The Blue Eagles collectively voiced a promise to bounce back in the second.
But once more they came out flat while Tamaraw forward Paul Sanga was smoking from the perimeter. The lanky reed thin forward carried the cudgels for his team that was missing the injured Pipo Noundou and a silent Ryan Garcia, JR Cawaling and Mark Barroca who had not scored since dropping 8 points in the opening period. He dropped three treys and a twinner from far out that had the Ateneans reeling.
Black put his hands to his head as FEU’s back-up guard Jens Knuttel drove inside for a lay-up that gave his side a 18-point lead at 57-39 with time running down on the third quarter. Emman Monfort knocked down a triple at the buzzer to pare the lead down to 15; a shot that sent a shiver down FEU Coach Glenn Capacio’s spine. “Ayaw mo magbigay ng chance ang kalaban mo ng tira ng ganyan kasi pwedeng tuloy-tuloy nay an para sa kanila,” he would say later.
And as the fourth quarter started, Capacio’s worst fears were confirmed as Ryan Buenafe who had been sterling of late scored on a drive to further slice the lead to 13. It was the first time Ateneo had put up consecutive points on the board since early in the second quarter as they were both bothered by FEU’s defense and betrayed by poor shooting.
Cawaling’s one free throw was sandwiched in between Ateneo captain Nonoy Baclao’s putback and the last of Eric Salamat’s four three-pointers. The rally was officially on at 58-50. FEU called for time and as both teams headed for their benches, Baclao exhorted his teammates, “Kaya natin ‘to. Hindi pa ‘to tapos.”
For the second time in the game, the Blue Eagles, their fighting hearts bolstered with heart-stopping wins and gritty comebacks that have been the hallmark of the Norman Black years, strapped on their on hardhats as they mounted another improbable comeback.
Shutting down the interior and sticking to FEU’s outside gunners, the Blue Eagles finally regained the lead at 62-61 with a Jai Reyes trey at the 4:25 mark to cap a 19-3 blast. It was Ateneo’s third first taste of the lead since Salamat’s opening triple that gave the Blue Eagles a 3-2. Al-Hussaini would play only 24 minutes but Baclao, finally totally healthy after fracturing his hand in their first round match versus La Salle, stood tall in the middle even as Nico Salva was sent off for an alleged punching foul. Baclao finished with 12 points and corralled 18 huge boards – half of them coming on the offensive glass – to go with 3 blocked shots and altered several more.
After a sterling Season 71, Baclao struggled with nagging injuries and his numbers went down as a result. While never one to look at the stat sheet, his over-all presence is integral to Ateneo’s success. With his numbers down, FEU’s Aldrech Ramos, another defensive monster has quietly slipped into Baclao’s slot as the eminent forward-center with his ability to score from inside and outside while playing great D.
Baclao cares for none of that and has a healthy respect for foes but that does not diminish the warrior’s ferocity he has in his heart. After Ramos scored on him, the Ateneo captain returned the favor with an and-one to make it 65-63 for the blue and white.
It was a war of attrition from there; a case of who would blink first.
After Ateneo raced to a 68-63 lead following a Jai Reyes triple, Sanga dropped in one of his own with an Atenean all over him to edge closer with 2:03 left to play. There was still plenty of fight in these Tamaraws.
Following a Monfort moving pick that gave the ball back to FEU with the score 69-68 Ateneo, Ryan Garcia blew by the pint-sized Atenean and found only Reyes (who was being posted by Barroca) in his path. It was an excellent execution of spotting a mismatch and Garcia scored off the window to make it 70-69 FEU.
Black countered by sending in the taller Buenafe in for Monfort to take away that disadvantage. It paid dividends for the super soph fished Knuttel’s fifth and final foul and deposited both free throws owing to FEU being in penalty. 71-70 Ateneo.
The two teams’ verve was tested in the clutch as Kirk Long and Garcia trooped to the 15-foot line. The Blue Eagle made one while the Tamaraw hit both to tie the match at 72-all.
With 30 seconds left in the game, Baclao took the inbound pass from Reyes and handed it off to Salamat to create. The fourth-year guard drove from the left side and attracted three Tamaraws freeing him for a drop pass to Al-Hussaini who scored with a lay-up off the glass.
Just when it seemed that Ateneo had pulled off the win after Reil Cervantes missed a fifteen-foot jump shot, a referee whistled Al-Hussaini for his fifth and final foul. Al-Hussaini scored only 7 points and pulled down 2 rebounds. He ran to the Ateneo bench in disbelief. There were 2.1 seconds left in the match and FEU had an opportunity to send it to extra time and face Ateneo without its slotman.
Cervantes coolly made the first but his second hit back iron and tumbled into the right side. Kirk Long was playing the opposite end of the hash marks and scooted in for the defensive board as time ticked away.
Ateneo beat FEU 74-73 in one of the worst-officiated matches of the season but was at the same time one of the most thrilling. The wrapped up the number one seed, their second objective of the season (the first was to make the Final Four while the third is to win the championship) to close out the final game of the eliminations.
“We survived it,” sighed Black after the game. “What a game, huh?” He paid tribute to his players for not giving up in spite of the seemingly insurmountable odds and to the Tamaraws who had given them all sorts of trouble. “People stepped up on both sides. We all wanted the game, that’s for sure. We showed our fighting heart.”
When the assembled media asked Al-Hussaini what he thought of the titanic struggle… he answered Black’s question that was posed during the half, “Gusto lang namin manalo. Hindi pa ‘to tapos.”
Ateneo 74 – Salamat 20, Reyes 13, Buenafe 12, Baclao 12, Al-Hussaini 7, Monfort 6, Long 4, Sumalinog 0, Salva 0, Chua 0, Austria 0
FEU 73 – Sanga 19, Ramos 16, Garcia 8, Barroca 8, Cervantes 7, Cawaling 6, Tanuan 4, Knuttel 4, Vinluan 1, Caluag 0
Starter scoring
Ateneo – 56 points
FEU – 50 points
Bench scoring
Ateneo – 18 points
FEU – 23 points
Fastbreak points
Ateneo – 11 points
FEU – 2 points
Second chance points
Ateneo – 15 points
FEU – 14 points
Turnover points
Ateneo 20 points
FEU 21 points
Rebounds
Ateneo – 35 (15 offensive)
FEU – 49 (23 offensive)
Assists
Ateneo – 11
FEU – 16
Steals
Ateneo – 7
FEU – 6
Blocks
Ateneo – 4
FEU - 1
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