Five
Ateneo 71 vs. UE 58
by rick olivares
The meek have inherited the earth.
Now, they are the strong. The barren wasteland of the 90s is but a memory. The three titles of the new millennium have confirmed that the Ateneo Blue Eagles have reclaimed their place in the basketball firmament with their 71-58 demolition of another storied team – the University of the East Red Warriors in the third match of a best-of-three finals series. It is the biggest haul in a decade since the four crowns of the 1950s. It is the sixth time the Blue Eagles have accomplished back-to-back title wins (1931-33, 1953-54, 1957-58, 1975-76, and 1987-88).
The fifth UAAP title gives Ateneo a total of 19 including the 14 won in the NCAA. Collectively, our trophy count puts ties us with Far Eastern University and the University of Santo Tomas for the highest ever in college basketball.
At the center of it all is that dominant big man, Rabeh Al-Hussaini whose stratospheric rise to basketball stardom no one charted. And he joins a pantheon of great Ateneo centers that include Rico Villanueva, Danny Francisco, Steve Watson, Marte Samson, and Moro Lorenzo to name a few.
But the man who guided the blue and white back these titles is the longest tenured Ateneo coach since the Maestro, Baby Dalupan, weaved his magic in the NCAA. Dalupan won back-to-back titles with players like Steve Watson, Joy Carpio, Fritz Gaston, Chito Narvasa, Padim Israel, and Pons Valdez to name a few.
Like Dalupan, Black is a Philippine Basketball Association Grand Slam winner. But the Maestro achieved the feat when he concentrated on the Crispa Redmanizers (although he did guide the UE Red Warriors to an all-time best seven straight UAAP titles in the 60’s). Black on the other hand achieved that trifecta of crowns in during the 1989 season as a player-coach for San Miguel Beer.
In Black’s five years in the Ateneo, he’s compiled a sterling record of 65 wins and 18 losses. That right there is a 78.31% winning percentage. He’s won two UAAP titles in three Finals appearances and doesn’t look to stop there.
Did anyone think that the team would go 13-1 in the eliminations again?
If there wasn’t a doubt that the Blue Eagles would repeat, there were questions and quite some disappointment that they couldn’t get the job done in Game 2 against the Red Warriors. Even worse, some painted comparisons between the crushing Finals defeat of 2006 and Game 2 of this year.
Yet if there was any unwavering belief that they could get the job done, it was the Ateneo coaching staff and the team. After the team walked off the floor victims of an 88-58 mauling, Black drew up the game plan they had mapped out for the match.
“Did we execute what I wanted?” was the terse question.
To a man, the team mumbled, “No.” There was a feeling of massive overconfidence heading into that match. The pre-game talk of celebration filtered about and that left team officials concerned. “We have been trying to temper those feelings,” revealed team manager Paolo Trillo. “After all, there’s still a game to play.”
The words were prophetic as the blue and whites ran smack into a hungry UE team that wanted to prove it belonged on the big stage. And they were dealt the worst loss in the Norman Black era – a 20-point thumping that revitalized their foes.
Coupled with a Game 2 loss by the Ateneo Blue Eaglets, quite a few in the media wondered about “the choking Eagles.” It was UE’s first Finals win since 1985 when Allan Caidic led them to their last pair of titles.
“We didn’t take care of business,” summed up Jai Reyes who suffered from a miserable shooting day. “But we’re ready.”
Even as Ateneo attacked UE’s zone from the opening tip, it seemed that the Red Warriors’ outside artillery was still on target as Paul Zamar and Rudy Lingganay zeroed in on the basket to keep pace with the defending champs.
But after Rabeh Al-Hussaini scored on a lay-up from a pass from Jai Reyes, the score in favor of Ateneo 10-8, the Blue Eagles never looked back. Fourteen of their 21 first quarter points came from the inside. The challenger’s interior defense was so porous that it looked like a lay-up line for a while.
Lawrence Chongson, who has surprisingly turned into a good coach, knew that Ateneo would watch his perimeter shooters and promised to add a new wrinkle to their game. “We will fight fire with fire,” said the rookie mentor who referred to taking the game inside.
The Warriors made their run and came close at 28-25 following a Paul Lee lay-up. But they needed more than just Lee and Espiritu scoring. Pari Llagas, who played superb in Game 2, was hardly a factor as he finished with a measly 3 points all of them coming from the free throw line.
In the clutch for all the marbles, Ateneo’s players – including guard Eric Salamat who was a non-factor in the first two games – stepped up big time.
With UE triple-teaming Al-Hussaini as Jai Reyes and Emman Monfort were misfiring from the outside (0-6 from three-point land beyond the arc), Ryan Buenafe, already a bigtime player but still with boatloads of potential and promise, drove inside and played stifling defense on Lee. He finished with 10 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, and 2 blocks.
His energy helped the blues to a 40-25 halftime lead. While the double-digit lead gave Ateneo a huge cushion to work with in the second half, they braced themselves for the inevitable UE run.
The Recto squad opened the third quarter with Espiritu and Val Acuña hitting a triple each.
Ateneo stuck to its game plan and went inside. As UE doubled down low on the Blue Eagles’ center, Jai Reyes answered with consecutive treys to make it 48-31.
Now the challengers were really in trouble for Ateneo was clicking inside and outside. When Al-Hussaini hit another jump hook to give Ateneo a 20-point lead at 67-47 with 4:10 left in the game, the final minutes, were just a formality.
Twenty-two years ago, it was UE that spotted Ateneo with a 20-point bulge with the 3rd quarter almost done. This season, they came back from huge deficits against FEU and Ateneo. In the latter, they fell short as time ran out on them. As for Game 3, the Blue Eagles made sure that the final score in the final game of the season was never in doubt.
As Paul Lee dribbled out the remaining seconds of the game, the scored pegged at 71-58 for all eternity as an Ateneo victory, the jubilant Blue Eagles and their supporters raced onto the court in tears and rapturous joy as confetti rained down on them.
The crown was defended. The fifth UAAP title – the 19th overall – was in the bag. The sixth back-to-back title had been secured. Another improbable and exciting season that started in blue ended with the league and the basketball landscape awash in blue. It was a fitting gift an Atenean could have on the school’s sesquicentennial -- a men’s basketball championship to go with the Small Basketeers title and Juniors’ second straight championship banner.
As is the custom, the team and its officials, and supporters retreated to the Church of the Gesu for a Thanksgiving Mass, and words of joy, hope, and reflection.
Reyes, who had matched his Uncle Jun’s feat, spoke revealingly about his ordeal as a victim of Typhoon Ondoy. He wasn’t alone in that respect, several team members from Nico De Chavez, Frank Golla, Nico Salva, and the Juniors’ Paolo Romero suffered from the tragedy.
If anything, he spoke of being grateful for what he’s been given as much has been lost including homes and belongings. It was something University President Fr. Benviendo Nebres, S.J. reiterated, that just as the relief efforts have brought everyone together, so too, has the wondrous championship.
The once meek -- have now inherited the college basketball landscape. Now let’s be humble about it.
Ateneo 71 – Al-Hussaini 21, Reyes 16, Buenafe 10, Baclao 8, Salamat 7, Long 7, Salva 2, Monfort 0, Austria 0
UE 58 – Lee 21, Espiritu 16, Acuña 8, Lingganay 5, Zamar 3, Llagas 3, Flores 2, Reyes 0, Duran 0, Ayala 0
Notes: Sophomore Ryan Buenafe just won his fifth consecutive title (including three juniors trophies he won while at San Sebastian). “Hindi nakakasawa manalo,” he said while basking in the afterglow of the momentous victory. Jai Reyes, Rabeh Al-Hussaini, and Norman Black all entered in the same year 2005. Since 2002, every UAAP champion defeated the UE Red Warriors en route to the title.
No comments:
Post a Comment