Ateneo vs. Adamson Round One

The Backbreakers
Ateneo 72 vs. Adamson 45
by rick olivares

Thursday July 10, 2008
Philsports Arena
For the coach, his son is everything. He loves him, supports him. He roots for him. That’s why there was a sense of relief for Leo Austria when he left for the Philippine Basketball Association after leading Adamson back to prominence and a Final Four appearance. He wouldn’t have to coach against his son during his rookie year with the Blue Eagles.

“Ikaw nagpalaki, ikaw nagturo sa kanya ng hindi lang basketball, tapos mag-ko-coach ka laban sa kanya? Mahirap yata yun,” said the one time PBA Rookie of the Year (with Shell). “Sa bahay, hindi namin pinaguusapan yun basketball kesyo Adamson o Ateneo. Alam ko may pressure na sa kanya lalo na kapag magkalaban na kami. Syempre I want Adamson to win pero matutuwa rin ako kung manalo ang team ng anak ko.”

The veneered elder Austria is back in Adamson after a year’s hiatus. He confessed to not wanting to leave – there’s something after all about teaching young men basketball and life that appeals to him. But a job is a job. He’s only been back for less than three months and he knows his team is not yet ready. But in a year or two, watch out, he warns. He puts his son out of his mind for the moment for he has a game to win.

With 3:48 left in the third quarter, Ateneo finally seized control of the game 54-47. While Adamson theoretically still was within striking distance, the game was for all intents and purposes already done. For the Blue Eagles, it was more than keeping a 15-year winning streak against the Falcons alive. No one actually thinks about being on the Ateneo team that finally loses to Adamson after all, in the supposed year of parity, there are no guaranteed victories. There are however, bigger things to worry about and perhaps the most important was grabbing win #2 and staying on par with the University of the East Red Warriors who earlier scuttled luckless National University with their own torrid-shooting third quarter.

At that point in the third canto, at the free throw line was the elder Austria’s son, Raymond or “Bacon” as he was affectionately nicknamed several years ago by Jai Reyes. He was to shoot three free throws after being leveled while attempting from the left corner pocket.

The son swished three high-arcing shots to hike the lead to 14 at 57-43. Some blue boosters in the crowd, thanked and applauded the Adamson coach for teaching his son to be such a good shooter. The elder Austria stood at an arm’s length from his bench smiled.

In the last three years, Ateneo took four squeakers and one blowout from Adamson. The Falcons gained a small measure of revenge by beating the Blue Eagles in one of the pre-season summer leagues prompting prognosticators to figure the match to be another edge-of-your-seater. The Falcons actually lost a won game versus title favorite Far Eastern University during the opening day of the UAAP men’s basketball competitions. “We have to learn from that,” said the Adamson mentor of the disappointing loss.”

For 24 minutes, the game followed the usual script -- tough defense, errors galore, and a furious neck-to-neck battle. The score, ridiculously low at 30-27 in favor of the blue and white, resembled a Super Bowl score line. Of the Blues’ 30 points, 24 came inside the paint. Adamson’s Paul Gonzalgo, Lester Alvarez, and Mark Yambot on the other hand, kept the spirit of (former gunner) Patrick Cabahug alive by raining jumpers from medium range and beyond the arc. No doubt this wasn’t lost on opposing coaches who were closely watching the game. Ateneo’s perimeter defense after all, has been porous of late. And it certainly didn’t help that Ateneo reverted to form by committing a bunch of turnovers (they would finish with a total of 16 which is close to last season’s average).

Despite all the mistakes, the offense was more fluid as the Blue Eagles had 14 dime drops as opposed to their first game’s measly 6 assists. Thirteen of the 15 players sent in got into the scoring act with Chris Tiu the lone Atenean in double figures with 12 points. Eric Salamat, the next King Eagle, was another spark on offense with 8 points and 3 assists. His beatdown of his guard that led to a sweet drop pass for a wide open Jobe Nkemakolam should make anyone’s highlight reel.

It has been sweet for the comebacking Nkemakolam, now sporting adidas after appearing in the Swoosh film My Game last year. Benched late last year due to an assortment of problems, he could have been a factor in the Final Four loss to DLSU. Now leaner and rejuvenated, the Fil-Nigerian came off the bench to score 6 points and was a force on the boards with 12 rebounds. That’s one more ribbie versus Adamson forward Allan Santos’ 11. When you compare their stat line, Nkemakolam played 18 minutes to Santos’ 20.

Jobe provides some flexibility to the team. Note that when he’s in, he plays the center slot allowing Nonoy Baclao or Rabeh Al-Husseini to move to the wings where their height and swatting abilities can force teams to reconsider their options.

The rookies too gave a better account of themselves in this game with Nico Salva showing he could be another legitimate low post threat. But the thunder was reserved for Chris Sumalinog’s entrance in the game’s final minutes.

While his teammates have been racking up floor burns, Sumalinog has been burning a hole in his pants while sitting at the far end of the bench. At times, he has been disappointed at his inability to get into games, but he’s kept a sunny disposition about himself and his hopes high up. “Laban lang,” as he likes to say. So when his backbreaking three-pointer gave the team a 21-point bulge, he quickly went back down on defense his face deadly serious. Why not? There was some bit of defense still to play. Any celebration was for later.

What had been a tight game in the early goings had turned into a rout; the young basketball season’s first true rout. And when the dust had settled on a 72-45 win, Ateneo had win #2.

It was a crushing loss for the Falcons. They suffered a power outage by scoring a season low 45 points. They simply couldn’t find the bottom of the net and as a result, are now at the bottom of the standings along with NU with a 0-2 record.

The coach smiled as he shook hands with the victorious Ateneo team. He’s been living and breathing the game for so long that he has learned to mask the pain of losing. Deep inside he’s happy for his son and his team, but the task at hand now is raising the team’s shattered confidence. They had given up what was close to a won game against FEU yet against Ateneo, they were blown off the floor.

“Minsan hindi ka pwedeng maging coach sa mga bata pero parang tatay. Yan ang role natin ngayon.”

We’re pretty sure the son would be proud of the father.