Blue Eaglets press Junior Archers to oblivion for first round sweep.
AHS 71 vs. DLSZ 57
by rick olivares
After the De La Salle Zobel Junior Archers’ Joseph Tempongko laid the ball in over Ateneo counterpart Von Pessumal to give the green and white a 23-18 lead in the second quarter, Blue Eaglets head coach Jamike Jarin called for time.
He railed at his senior forward’s lack of focus and for allowing an unchallenged layup.
The Junior Archers had come to play as they filled the lanes, bodied up their men, and had hands on the Ateneans’ faces. They were making the easy plays while the Loyola Heights-based team was struggling on both ends of the floor.
The back-to-back Juniors champs crawled back to a two-point deficit 34-32 at halftime and one could sense the storm to come from Ateneo.
“I will tell you when I am happy, when I am sad, when I am angry and right now I will tell you that we are not playing our system,” thundered Jarin, who has been at the helm of the Ateneo juniors squad for 13 years now.
Six minutes after the resumption of play, the Blue Eaglets had not only seized the lead but also the momentum. And perhaps more importantly, they had crushed their rivals’ confidence.
Their 1-3-1 full court press choked the life of the Junior Archers’ offense. In that six minute span, they only had two field goal attempts. And before Jonathan Calugcug got an easy basket after a wrong tap by an Atenean, the Blue Eaglets had gone on a 20-0 tear (including Keifer Ravena’s two free throws to close the scoring of the first half) at the score was 50-34.
After Calugcug’s layup, La Salle score four more points, but Eaglet Marky Mercado got the Ateneans back on track with a huge triple from the right corner pocket 53-40 for the boys in blue.
Even with the Archers threatening to come back, Jarin had faith in his squad as he inserted his second and third unit that matched the production of La Salle’s starting five – each side scored six points to end the third.
In the final quarter, Ateneo’s starting unit of Keifer Ravena, Von Pessumal, Paolo Romero, Chuckie Dumrique, and Jay Javelosa finally put away the pesky Juniors Archers 71-57 for a first round sweep (7-0) while La Salle Zobel tumbled to a 3-4 record.
After the match, inside the victorious Ateneo locker room, the coaching staff and the players gave credit to Lambert Tenorio, Mark Gamboa, and Jay Javelosa for their consistency throughout the first round and for coming through during the hard-fought game.
Jarin isn’t overly excited about his team’s gaudy standing. “Been there. Done that. We have not accomplished anything.” He said silently but not in a mocking manner. “The objective is to win the championship. We are still at least one round away. Every year we lose players so we have to make sure that the new faces are plugged into the system where we play 94-feet of defense. Anyone can shoot or dribble the ball, but not everyone can play defense. That is what we are all about.”
The team broke the huddle with their mantra: “sipag!!!”
Now their next task was to get back to school and their classes.
Good stuff Rick! Go Eaglets!
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