The Gut Checkers
Ateneo 79 vs. La Salle 73
by rick olivares
Sunday July 6, 2008
Araneta Coliseum
With 8:43 left in the third quarter, Nonoy Baclao let out a cry of anguish. Moments earlier he picked up his fourth foul of the game. A dubious bail out call that allowed the Green Archers to retain possession with the score 40-37 in their favor. The green and white failed to score on their end and the Ateneo Blue Eagles went back on the offensive. Baclao was fouled and awarded two free throws, but he wasn’t done talking to the referees about his fourth foul. The lanky shot-blocking forward is a magnet for fouls phantom or real and it has forced the Ateneo coaching staff to shuffle their starting unit. As he trooped to the stripe, it seemed that his cry burned out the pent up anxiety in him. Composed, Baclao hit the bottom of the net on his freebies 40-39 DLSU before he took a seat on the bench.
After the game, the prodigious defensive ace who played a total of 19 spotty minutes revealed that he had to collect himself because the Ateneo rookies were watching. “Nakaka-frustrate talaga pero inisip ko na kailangan mag-focus. Hindi naman maibabalik yung mga tawag so follow the game plan na lang.”
Which is exactly what Blue Eagles coach Norman Black advised to Rabeh Al-Husseini during gut check time. The Invisible Man for the first half, the slotman became Mr. Clutch with some strong play in the fourth quarter as he chipped in 6 points and hauled down 4 boards with a couple on the offensive end. All throughout the game, PJ Walsham and the King of Sneer himself Rico Maierhofer were talking smack to him but Al-Husseini heard none of it. “Ang tanong mo, kung ano sinabi ni Coach Norman,” said the fourth year center in the dugout after the game. “Kailangan ako ng team kesyo sa offense o sa defense at importante to maka-contribute ako para mabawasan yung pressure kina Chris (Tiu) at sa ibang teammates ko. Swerte rin nakatulong ako. Kailangan talaga.”
An Ateneo-La Salle game is already full of fanfare yet the first meeting between the two teams this season had an extra large size dose of it. First the UAAP Board conferred an award to the recently-victorious Manny Pacquiao and then visiting NBA star Gilbert Arenas who paid a visit to the Ateneo and La Salle dugouts sat by the special ringside section causing further commotion. The special guests delayed the match by more than 30 minutes prompting the fans to chant, “game na.”
By the time it started, the referees nearly took the fun out of the game as they assessed DLSU a technical foul right before the jumpball for not wearing the proper team IDs (at least that’s what the table committee said). And once the game got going, they prevented either team from getting into the flow of things as they called ticky tacky fouls on both sides. It seemed that for awhile, one couldn’t drive the lane without a whistle blowing.
Even more dubiously, right before the start of the fourth quarter, Norman Black was assessed a technical of his own for what UAAP Commissioner Chito Narvasa said was “excessive gestures that was showing up the referees and agitating the crowd.” The resulting two free throws and ball possession allowed La Salle to tie the game at 56 (after Eric Salamat’s big time drive gave Ateneo a two point lead entering the final canto) and lead by a deuce on Archer rookie David Webb’s lay-up.
The annual Ateneo-La Salle classic was degenerating into a theater of the absurd.
Prior to the start of the game, the Ateneo coaching staff was most concerned about stopping the Archers’ offensive triumvirate of JVee Casio, James Mangahas, and Maierhofer. La Salle’s pressure defense wasn’t much of a concern as the team has handed it well in the past couple of years but they were worried about how they would like to isolate Maierhofer from the top of the key where he could bury a long jumper or pump fake his guy for a drive and a dunk. 
Former Blue Eagle Ford Arao, recuperating from a second ACL injury that momentarily sidetracked his pro dreams, had this to say about playing La Salle. “Importante na hindi ma-overwhelm sa simula,” he said while comparing injury notes with former teammate JC Intal who himself just rejoined Air21 after battling an illness for three months. “Basta sabayan mo lang at kung lamang sila, make sure na hindi masyadong malaki para makahabol.”
That unwavering belief that they can pull off a win against seemingly insurmountable odds has been ingrained in the team for some time now. Even when La Salle raced to a luxurious six-point lead at 67-61 early in the fourth (spurred by the technical on Black), the Ateneans had this quiet confidence that they had one more run left in them.
As the green gallery revved up their “Animo La Salle" cheers, Eric Salamat thought to himself, “I’ve had enough of this.” With Jobe Nkemakolam (7 points and 1 board) reminding the Green Archers that he’s an inside force to contend with and Al-Husseini standing toe-to-toe with La Salle’s frontline, Salamat’s drive gave the lead to Ateneo for good 69-67. As he backpedaled on defense, Salamat tapped his chest. “Puso, baby,” he cried. “Puso.”
The tale of the tape in the endgame underscored two strengths from last season as well as two bonus ones in different categories. The Eagles won the battle of the boards 46-61 and rejected more shots 7-3. And surprisingly, they took better care of the ball as it was turned over only 12 times as opposed to the 16-plus they averaged last season. Ateneo hit 81% of their free throws (34-42) while La Salle found the bottom of the net only 13 times out of their 29 attempts for a poor 44%. In the gut check time of the last two minutes, the Blue Eagles made 8-11 free throws to ice their first victory of Season 71 at 79-73. "It's a great yet ugly win," team patron Manny Pangilinan would later say. "We just never gave up and it showed the character of the boys."
You know what they say about a journey of a thousand miles beginning with one step," added Joey Leviste, the godfather of Ateneo's chess program and the Chairman of Filipinas SIFE. "It was a tough tough win but I'll take it. So will everybody else."
As the final buzzer sounded when La Salle’s final offensive fizzled out, Baclao let out another scream albeit one of rapturous elation. “Sarap nitong panalo pero malayo pa ang aabutin.”
Ateneo 79 -- Tiu 26, Salamat 10, Al Husseini 10, Buenafe 8, Nkemakolam 7, Baclao 7, Burke 4, Austria 3, Long 2, Salva 1, Escueta 1, Baldos 0, Reyes 0
La Salle 73 -- Casio 19, Maierhofer 16, Mangahas 13, Webb 7, Villanueva 4, Bagatsing 4, Revilla 3, Walsham 2, Atkins 2, Barua 2, Ferdinand 1, Malabes 0
1st Qtr. 17-16
2nd Qtr. 35-40
3rd Qtr. 56-54
4th Qtr 79-73
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