The Big Chill - UAAP Game 11 Ateneo 81 vs Adamson 68

The Big Chill - UAAP Game 11 Ateneo 81 vs Adamson 68
Round Two UAAP Season 70
by Rick Olivares

September 1, 2007
Cuneta Astrodome


Nineteen.

Adamson Falcons coach Jing Ruiz knows the infamy of the number although he’s a new addition to the cast of luckless San Marcelino cagers. Patrick Cabahug, Roel Hugnatan, Paul Gonzalgo, and Leo Canuday have known a season of heartbreak and a trio of crushing defeats at the hands of the Ateneo Blue Eagles. And now – in what they consider as “game five” – in a two-year battle with Ateneo dating back to Season 69, they felt that it was their time to win.

“Buong-buo loob namin sa game na ‘to,” said Hugnatan in the pre-game shoot-around. “Last na namin ni Patrick (Cabahug) ‘to against Ateneo kaya gusto namin manalo. Kami naman. Sana abutan kami ng law of averages.”

For the Blue Eagles, it’s not that they have had Adamson’s number for a decade and counting -- the only figure they care about is win number seven.

And in what turned out to be a relatively easy game (their second of the season after the win against UP in the first round) from the opening whistle, the only drama was when an Ateneo supporter challenged the heckling of some of Adamson’s more boisterous fans.

When Ateneo forward Nonoy Baclao stole a lazy pass from Falcons point guard Leo Canuday to center Rey Gorospe, and raced down the court, his flush not only broke a 2-2 tie but also brought the blue crush to their feet. To the casual observer, it’s just a two-point basket. But it was the first game dunk by an Ateneo player for the season and it ensured that the dunking streak that began in 1999 when Rich Alvarez joined the team would continue. Coincidentally, Baclao inherited JC Intal’s #7.

The first quarter ended with the score 25-10 in Ateneo’s favor. But the double-digit lead wasn’t the Adamson coaching staff’s only concern. Only seven points from Ateneo’s output came from their guards. Ateneo was pounding the ball inside every chance it got. Hugnatan had two fouls in the first quarter and the Falcons were in penalty as early as 5:49 in the game. And Zion Laterre’s smothering defense on Cabahug told heavily on their anemic offense.

Ruiz instructed his players to give the ball to Cabahug in order for the league's leading scorer to get going. While Cabahug and Hugnatan always score a bunch of points against Ateneo, it is also the team's undoing. The two are like black holes - nothing ever comes out. Well, almost -- Hugnatan had one assist. Coming into this game, the Falcons were sixth in the league in assists averaging about 12 per match. Although Ruiz' boys eventually won the battle of the boards 40-36, what was even more telling was Adamson finished with a measly five assists.

In contrast, the Blue Eagles play a total team game. The points are generously spread around and Baclao who led the effort with 14 points (7 caroms and 3 huge blocks) is the fifth Atenean to pace the team in scoring (after Ford Arao, Chris Tiu, Jai Reyes, and Eric Salamat). The blue and whites also average 15.5 assists a game good for second in the league (UE is tops). And on this day, they finished with 18 to the poor 5 of Adamson one less than the previous encounter with Ateneo.

While Chris Tiu’s shooting woes continued at the Cuneta Astrodome (13 points, 4 rebounds, and 6 assists), he and Jai Reyes (8 points and 8 assists) ably quarterbacked the team. “I don’t need to score a lot of points to help the team win,” said Reyes after the game. “The make-up of this team is such that personal stats aren’t important. Everyone does whatever they have do to contribute.”

Case in point… back-up guard Yuri Escueta. The bandana kid has become Mr. Quality Minutes by playing great defense on opposing guards and scoring when he needs to. In only four minutes of action (give the man more playing time), he had 4 points, 2 rebounds, and 1 steal. When the Falcons made their 19-point third quarter run, he completely threw them off on two consecutive plays by playing the passing lanes that stalled any momentum they had going into the pivotal pay-off period.

And there was Kirk Long. After grabbing the spotlight with his fourth quarter heroics in Thursday’s game with UST, he on his 19th birthday, played a support role as he helped put the clamps on Cabahug (and the two exchanged words that were obviously not of the mutual admiration kind) while scoring 3 points and pulling down 3 boards.

Up in the bleachers of the Astrodome, some 30 kids from Sitio Kwatro in Valley Golf, Antipolo, the site of the Long family’s center for street children, came over to the game with more than half a dozen of them sporting #12 jerseys. “Nandito kami para panoorin si Kirk at manalo ang Ateneo,” said one excited boy.

And Ateneo did just that by putting Adamson away in an almost clinical (they had least number of turnovers in the season thus far with 13) display of teamwork as eight Blue Eagles scored in the last quarter to win 81-68. It was win #7 and the Falcons’ 20th straight loss to Ateneo.

Twenty.

Adamson Falcons coach Jing Ruiz, now with almost a year of UAAP coaching experience under his belt, looked up at the scoreboard as the blue gallery launched into its alma mater hymn. That’s 20 losses in a row to Ateneo and it stung more so because he wanted his graduating players to win one before they elevate to the pros. But Ruiz knows he has some blue chip players coming up from their Team B including the highly touted Michael Galinato to help their campaign for next season. “Next year na lang tayo bumawi,” he said trying to cheer up his forlorn squad.

Twenty. The number sticks in his craw all the more. For twenty years ago, as a star with the Letran Knights (along with teammates Fernando Libed and Art Ayson), they lost to Ateneo in a highly anticipated Battle of Champions between the UAAP and the NCAA. It was never a contest for as early as the first quarter, the Blue Eagles detonated a 20-point bomb to their fat egg to which they never recovered.

Maybe the law of averages will catch up by next year. And they walked out towards their dugout.

Author's dedication: This is for the first-ever Ateneo team to play in the UAAP -- led by players like Ogie Narvasa and Jojo Gamboa among others. The team, reeling from the loss of key players and mass support owing to the defection from the NCAA to the UAAP, lost its first UAAP game ever at the Loyola Center (now the Blue Eagle Gym) to the Adamson Falcons who were led by Hector Calma. Adamson went to win its first and only UAAP title that year.