The Knockout
Ateneo 81 vs. UST 64
by rick olivares
Ateneo 81 vs. UST 64
by rick olivares
Jeric Fortuna brought the ball down the court and signaled the play. There was a grim look on his face as his UST side stared at a 19-point deficit 63-44 at the start of the fourth and final quarter of Game 1 of their Final Four match-up with Ateneo.
The sophomore point guard passed the ball to teammate Dylan Ababou who was at the apex of the three-point arc. And the new yet uncrowned league MVP rifled a three-point shot with Blue Eagle forward Oping Sumalinog draped all over him. The shot hit the front rim and the Blue Eagles switched to attack mode.
Once UST got the ball back, Fortuna this time swung the ball over to Khasim Mirza who launched one from the right side of the three-point arc. The shot that clanked off the side iron and Ateneo cleared the brick. Mirza shook his head and motioned to himself for a better follow through.
That was the story of the game for the Number Four seed.
They 2009 Tigers liked to overpower foes with their high-octane offense that was predicated on a relentless aerial bombardment. And when up against Ateneo, it was also vital to their game plan to keep the rebounding battle close and to take Ateneo center Rabeh Al-Hussaini out of the equation early on if only to give them a fighting chance. They even had Fortuna reprising Japs Cuan by driving inside on the Big Fella early in the game.
And if getting into the slotman’s head was part of their defensive scheme, the Blue Eagles preferred to take the fight out for their foe with some good old-fashioned hard-nosed defense. They went at UST right at the beginning.
They started it out with suffocating D predicated on blocks and steals.
When Ateneo captain Nonoy Baclao blocked Ababou’s first attempt -- an undergoal stab from the right side -- it sent a message that this year’s King Tiger was going to have a hand in his face all game long. True enough, he scored 19 points but that was from 6-18 shooting. Six of those points were courtesy of two open shots -- the only ones he had all game long when the Ateneans failed to switch during the pick and roll.
When Eric Salamat pilfered Fortuna’s pocket on UST’s next possession, he inspired his teammates to play like free safeties picking off the opposing quarterback’s passes.
While Ateneo tallied only 4 blocks all match long, they altered a great many shots including one where Ryan Buenafe forced Teng, this year’s Rookie of the Year, into an awkward trey attempt that he dropped off at the last moment to Allein Maliksi. Oping Sumalinog easily picked off the weak entry pass.
The sophomore point guard passed the ball to teammate Dylan Ababou who was at the apex of the three-point arc. And the new yet uncrowned league MVP rifled a three-point shot with Blue Eagle forward Oping Sumalinog draped all over him. The shot hit the front rim and the Blue Eagles switched to attack mode.
Once UST got the ball back, Fortuna this time swung the ball over to Khasim Mirza who launched one from the right side of the three-point arc. The shot that clanked off the side iron and Ateneo cleared the brick. Mirza shook his head and motioned to himself for a better follow through.
That was the story of the game for the Number Four seed.
They 2009 Tigers liked to overpower foes with their high-octane offense that was predicated on a relentless aerial bombardment. And when up against Ateneo, it was also vital to their game plan to keep the rebounding battle close and to take Ateneo center Rabeh Al-Hussaini out of the equation early on if only to give them a fighting chance. They even had Fortuna reprising Japs Cuan by driving inside on the Big Fella early in the game.
And if getting into the slotman’s head was part of their defensive scheme, the Blue Eagles preferred to take the fight out for their foe with some good old-fashioned hard-nosed defense. They went at UST right at the beginning.
They started it out with suffocating D predicated on blocks and steals.
When Ateneo captain Nonoy Baclao blocked Ababou’s first attempt -- an undergoal stab from the right side -- it sent a message that this year’s King Tiger was going to have a hand in his face all game long. True enough, he scored 19 points but that was from 6-18 shooting. Six of those points were courtesy of two open shots -- the only ones he had all game long when the Ateneans failed to switch during the pick and roll.
When Eric Salamat pilfered Fortuna’s pocket on UST’s next possession, he inspired his teammates to play like free safeties picking off the opposing quarterback’s passes.
While Ateneo tallied only 4 blocks all match long, they altered a great many shots including one where Ryan Buenafe forced Teng, this year’s Rookie of the Year, into an awkward trey attempt that he dropped off at the last moment to Allein Maliksi. Oping Sumalinog easily picked off the weak entry pass.
Ateneo’s defense didn’t just fuel a win to the school’s sixth Finals appearance this decade but it rewrote the record books.
The Loyola Heights squad finished with 13 steals, the highest Final Four total since the UAAP computerized its statistics in 2003. Salamat and Sumalinog each swiped away four balls. As a team, they forced UST’s prolific offense into 27.5% field goal shooting; the lowest in Final Four history (the previous low was 29.3% by La Salle versus Ateneo in 2003). That in your face defense also translated into 23 fast break points; another Final Four achievement that topped the previous high of 20 recorded by La Salle against FEU last year.
The Tigers are not the sort of team to rally from a deficit as they didn’t have the bench to backstop their topscorers in Ababou, Mirza, and Teng. With Darrell Green off the squad for disciplinary reasons, it further depleted UST’s dependable players. And it didn’t help their cause that the starters misfired all game long.
Their starting unit attempted 35 times from La La Land and only connected on 9; the majority of them when the game was long decided.
Early in the season, it was Ateneo’s second unit that played the fireman’s role. Since the team got its juggernaut game going, it has been the starting five that has putting away foes.
When the España team could only induce one foul from Al-Hussaini (in the very first minute) in the first quarter that spelled trouble for UST. It meant that Ateneo had the luxury of fielding the center at their convenience. And it allowed Baclao to chase Ababou to the perimeter and the guards could gamble a bit because there was someone to clear the loose change. Perhaps more importantly, it meant that UST would have to decide whether to double Al-Hussaini or gamble with single coverage in order to blanket Ateneo’s shooters.
Either way, it didn’t work. They were pounded from inside and out.
“We wanted to jump on them right away,” Norman Black would later say. “Eric just really set the tone for us with his defense. We got a lot of transition baskets because of our blocks and steals.”
While Salamat, Sumalinog, and Baclao were taking care of business with blocks and steals, Jai Reyes and Ryan Buenafe torched the Tigers with 50% shooting from three-point land as they hit 5 of 10 attempts. What made the shots even bigger was that they squelched UST’s rallies.
After Buenafe hit the last of his treys to make it 63-44 at the end of three quarters, Mirza who only hit 2 of 8 similar shots, threw up his arms as if to say, “What else can I do?”
Reyes was spectacular as he bucked the physical defense of UST by hitting huge shots en route to a team high 17 points to go with 8 rebounds.
“I think that’s the best way to answer back, di ba?” said Reyes who now has an opportunity to duplicate the feat of his uncle Jun who led Ateneo to back-to-back titles in 1987 and 1988. “Our defense just really did it for us.”
Ateneo 81 – Reyes 17, Buenafe 15, Al-Hussaini 14, Baclao 13, Salamat 6, Long 6, Chua 6, Sumalinog 2, Austria 2, Monfort 0, Gonzaga 0, Golla 0
UST 64 – Ababou 19, Mirza 14, Teng 10, Bautista 9, Fortuna 7, Afuang 4, Camus 1, Maliksi 0, Aytona 0
The Loyola Heights squad finished with 13 steals, the highest Final Four total since the UAAP computerized its statistics in 2003. Salamat and Sumalinog each swiped away four balls. As a team, they forced UST’s prolific offense into 27.5% field goal shooting; the lowest in Final Four history (the previous low was 29.3% by La Salle versus Ateneo in 2003). That in your face defense also translated into 23 fast break points; another Final Four achievement that topped the previous high of 20 recorded by La Salle against FEU last year.
The Tigers are not the sort of team to rally from a deficit as they didn’t have the bench to backstop their topscorers in Ababou, Mirza, and Teng. With Darrell Green off the squad for disciplinary reasons, it further depleted UST’s dependable players. And it didn’t help their cause that the starters misfired all game long.
Their starting unit attempted 35 times from La La Land and only connected on 9; the majority of them when the game was long decided.
Early in the season, it was Ateneo’s second unit that played the fireman’s role. Since the team got its juggernaut game going, it has been the starting five that has putting away foes.
When the España team could only induce one foul from Al-Hussaini (in the very first minute) in the first quarter that spelled trouble for UST. It meant that Ateneo had the luxury of fielding the center at their convenience. And it allowed Baclao to chase Ababou to the perimeter and the guards could gamble a bit because there was someone to clear the loose change. Perhaps more importantly, it meant that UST would have to decide whether to double Al-Hussaini or gamble with single coverage in order to blanket Ateneo’s shooters.
Either way, it didn’t work. They were pounded from inside and out.
“We wanted to jump on them right away,” Norman Black would later say. “Eric just really set the tone for us with his defense. We got a lot of transition baskets because of our blocks and steals.”
While Salamat, Sumalinog, and Baclao were taking care of business with blocks and steals, Jai Reyes and Ryan Buenafe torched the Tigers with 50% shooting from three-point land as they hit 5 of 10 attempts. What made the shots even bigger was that they squelched UST’s rallies.
After Buenafe hit the last of his treys to make it 63-44 at the end of three quarters, Mirza who only hit 2 of 8 similar shots, threw up his arms as if to say, “What else can I do?”
Reyes was spectacular as he bucked the physical defense of UST by hitting huge shots en route to a team high 17 points to go with 8 rebounds.
“I think that’s the best way to answer back, di ba?” said Reyes who now has an opportunity to duplicate the feat of his uncle Jun who led Ateneo to back-to-back titles in 1987 and 1988. “Our defense just really did it for us.”
Ateneo 81 – Reyes 17, Buenafe 15, Al-Hussaini 14, Baclao 13, Salamat 6, Long 6, Chua 6, Sumalinog 2, Austria 2, Monfort 0, Gonzaga 0, Golla 0
UST 64 – Ababou 19, Mirza 14, Teng 10, Bautista 9, Fortuna 7, Afuang 4, Camus 1, Maliksi 0, Aytona 0
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