Breakout
Ateneo 82 vs. NU 65
story by rick olivares pic by raddy mabasa
Sometimes, the best way to get back on track… is to listen to some fatherly advice.
Nico Salva was pumped up like anything prior to the game against La Salle. But anxiety, the match tipping off 30 minutes after its scheduled start got the best of him and he never found his rhythm.
In 23 minutes, the junior forward scored 5 points on 2-7 shooting, grabbed 5 rebounds (1.67 less than his average), and committed two turnovers including one down the stretch where he lost the ball on a tap.
As Nico explained it days after, this is one loss you don’t forget about in a day, maybe even two or three. Not until you take the court again to exorcise those game day demons.
His father, Mando, who played for the UP Fighting Maroons under Joe Lipa back in his college days, would regularly sit down with his son to break down the game and Nico’s performance. “I only had one thing to say to Nico,” said Mr. Salva in the aftermath of the loss to La Salle. “Don’t… be… tentative.”
When Nico entered the game against NU with under five minutes to play in the 1st Quarter, his batchmate, Ryan Buenafe drove in and drew the defense before dishing out to Salva who was open in the fifteen-foot line.
Swish.
Salva finished with 14 points on 50% shooting while pulling down 6 boards.
Sometimes, the best way to get back on track is to play the best defensive team out there.
The Ateneo Blue Eagles had the league’s top-rated defense in the last three years. This year, still groping for form and consistency and with a gaping hole in the middle, they have fallen to 2-2 and were playing in a must-win situation. In contrast, the NU Bulldogs have been playing superb defense. Heading into the match up, they surrendered the fewest points possible – 62.6 per game.
But they were at 2-3 in the standings.
They lost to Adamson by 6. Beat La Salle by 4. Lost to FEU by 4. Clipped UE by 7. And lost to UST by 1.
They were this year’s Adamson Falcons. Taking leads but being unable to hold on to them and losing only in the game’s final minute.
The Blue Eagle coaching staff thought the game would be a test to see if the team could indeed get over the hump.
And there was one bit of statistic that was crucial to their game plan.
With NU’s two strong inside players in Emmanuel Mbe and Jewel Ponferrada, the Blue Eagles chose to defend the lane rather than let the two run amuck and control the boards. The two worst three-point shooting teams in the league were Ateneo and National. It was in the words of sports scribe Joey Villar, “picking your poison.”
Ateneo coach Black simply called it a “gamble” and “playing the percentages that they (NU) won’t hit too many of their shots.”
For the first 13 minutes and 45 seconds, it looked like the game plan was backfiring. The Bulldogs were scoring from inside and out. They scored 10 points inside and from trifecta land, knocked down four triples with Kokoy Hermosisima’s trey at the 6:37 mark of the second canto hiking NU’s lead 28-14. That left the Ateneo gallery deathly quiet with quite a few wondering if the team was going to lose its first back-to-back game since 2007.
Then almost immediately, the Blue Eagles embarked on a stirring 19-6 run in a six-minute span that saw a solitary point down at the half 34-33.
If National was hoping that the halftime break would cool off Ateneo’s momentum, channeled a positive aspect from their 2007 campaign with an incandescent 3rd Quarter where the Blue Eagles scored 28 points to NU’s 14.
The 61-48 bulge at the end of the 3rd –courtesy of a semi hook shot by Ateneo rookie Art dela Cruz over Mbe who tried his best to swat the shot – was ominous. After 30 minutes of play, the Bulldogs allowed 61 points. And there were 10 more minutes to play.
Sometimes, the best game plan is to get your opponent to play your style of play.
As Ateneo stepped on the accelerator at the start of the 4th Quarter, National surprisingly abandoned their cherished half court game to play small ball to counter Ateneo’s uptempo game. NU mentor Eric Gonzales who used to coach the FEU juniors team aside from working with the Coca Cola Tigers in the PBA, countered with their undersized lineup of Hermosisima, Ajeet Singh, LJ Malanday, Mervin Baloran, and Jewel Ponferrada.
That played directly into Ateneo’s hands as Kirk Long, Jason Escueta, and Salva finished off the Bulldogs while inflicting upon them their worst loss of the season. The Blue Eagles, easily in their best performance of the young season, scored 13 fastbreak points to NU’s 3 and hit two huge treys in the final canto. Team captain Eric Salamat finally got his game going with a 20-point performance. Long added 19 and Salva 14. Ryan Buenafe, in another sublime outing showed how he can dominate without putting points on the board by dishing off for 9 assists while tallying 2 steals and 2 blocks. The highlight was passing the ball to dela Cruz for a bank off the window – from a near prone position.
“Hopefully, we go on a roll,” quipped a pleased Norman Black after the match. “And I hope we pick up a couple more wins to close out our first round.”
And as the adage goes, sometimes, one needs to learn how to lose before he wins again.
Ateneo 82 – Salamat 20, Long 19, Salva 14, dela Cruz 6, Golla 6, Tiongson 5, Monfort 5, Gonzaga 3, Escueta 2, Buenafe 2, Erram 0, Chua 0, Austria 0
NU 65 – Hermosisima 18, Malanday 12, Mbe 11, Khobuntin 7, Terso 5, Magat 4, Javillionar 3, Ponferrada 3, Tungcul 2, Ludovice 0, Singh 0, Baloran 0
Post-game interview with Norman Black and Eric Salamat.
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