While watching the opening ceremony, a UAAP school official (not Ateneo) asked me how can the Fil Oil tournament get bigger?
My answer was simple, “For starters, maybe change the name of the tournament to the ‘Fil Oil Cup’ as opposed to ‘Pre-season.’ That was the problem of the Nike Summer League. Dude, "summer" = recreational + fun. Who's going to take that seriously?" Semantics aside, it was a big opening day because officials made sure the three teams with the most rabid followings were on the court today.
The tournament for teams is a double standard. One, they are going in to win while experimenting and giving everyone playing time. But two, it’s still a cop out when one loses or is bounced from the tournament.
“But we will try and win,” said Coach Norman Black. “It isn’t going to be easy when you’re up against San Beda. Those guys just won the Fr. Martin Cup.”
I don’t know what I was going to look at – that Jason Escueta and JP Erram are in the line-up or the team is wearing the Swoosh for the first time since ---2003? Or that most Blue Eagles were totally out of game shape. I thought Ryan Buenafe was the Pillsbury Doughboy!
The team only began practicing last Monday. And in a pick up game with a Liga Pilipinas Team, Coach Norman left JP Erram on the floor during crunch time with Ateneo holding a three-point lead. The rookie committed an error that gave the semi-pro team a chance to even up the score but they missed the shot.
Two years ago, Ryan Buenafe was in the same predicament during a pre-season game and he committed a turnover that ultimately cost Ateneo the game.
“I still need them on the floor at that time because only then can they understand what it is all about. Then they learn from it.”
For the first time since Season 70, the team is entering a UAAP season with more questions than answers. That’s the beauty of the pre-season because there’s time to adjust and tinker with the line-up.
With that thought in mind, Coach and I diverted and discussed the New York Yankees, a common passion (sorry Kurt) and found a parallelism with the Blue Eagles. If the team loses, there’s no need to fret because it’s too early. Incidentally, none of the four Yankee starters have gotten a win yet as it’s the bullpen that has helped them win 2 of 4 games.
To win every game can be unreasonable so Yankee fans and Blue Eagle fans will just have to be patient. This is a team in the midst of transition. The only player who was there in the debacle of 2006 is Eric Salamat who was in his rookie year then. And even for the opener, they were missing Art dela Cruz Jr. who was with his high school team in the Palarong Pambansa.
On the strength of an inside game, the Red Lions, beefed up with Mar Villahermosa who showed a lot of promise in last year’s pre-season tournament, Fil-Australian twins Anthony and David Semerad, San Beda took an impressive 43-32 lead into the halftime.
The team had been unable to contain Sudan Daniel, Dave Marcelo and Anthony Semerad inside and JP Erram got his first real taste of Division I hoops; a far cry from the Fr. Martin II tournament he previously played in. He looked lost. But even if he didn't come back into the game, he'll be back.
At the turn of the half, Ateneo, which in the last four years has been a very good second half team, tightened up its defense inside, hounded opposing ball carriers, and swarmed over Daniel when the SBC big man got inside the lane. And the Blue Eagles found an answer as to who will snipe from the outside to open up opposing defenses – second year swingman Chris de Chavez who scored 8 points in a crucial stretch that allowed Ateneo to overhaul the lead.
The adjustment was simple – pass the ball around. Six players scored as Ateneo dropped a 28-14 bomb in the 3rd Quarter to take a 60-57 lead. It was a lead they would not relinquish even in the face of a searing Red Lions rally behind the exciting Rome de la Rosa.
Returning the favor: After nailing four triples, De Chavez drove against Garvo Lanete. When Dave Marcelo extended, he whipped a pass to Jason Escueta who scored on this play.
With time running down to 4 minutes left and the score 70-68 in favor of Ateneo, Nico Salva, Emman Monfort, and Escueta responded with an 8-0 run that took the starch out of their foes who would score only 3 more points. The game ended at 84-73 in favor of the Blue Eagles who won their first Opening Day match ever in the tournament.
“Well, it’s a win,” said Coach Norm. “But we have our work cut out. We’ll try and have everyone in shape in three weeks.”
After the game, someone (from Ateneo) was asking me what the Blue Eagles needed to fix. My reply, "You're shitting me, right? One game? The pre-season?"
I made my way out to go to Burger Machine.
Ateneo 84 – Monfort 16, Salva 16, De Chavez 13, Salamat 12, Escueta 10, Austria 4, Long 4, Buenafe 3, Golla 2, Tiongson 2, Chua 0, Erram 0
San Beda 73 – De La Rosa 14, Lanete 12, Marcelo 12, Daniel 11, J. Pascual 5, A. Semerad 5, Hermida 4, Caram 2, K. Pascual 2, Mendoza 2, D. Semerad 2
15-19, 32-43, 60-57, 84-73
Note: No one will be wearing Ateneo's #17 this year. That number belongs to the rehabbing Chris Sumalinog. Get well, bud.
Next game of Ateneo April 21 Wednesday 5pm vs. Arellano University
Next game of San Beda April 16 Friday 1pm vs. University of the Philippines
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