UAAP Juniors Finals Game 2

The Edge of Seventeen*

Ateneo 76 vs. UST 66

words by rick olivares pic by brosi gonzales

After losing the ball on a tap by Ejay Corre, Ateneo Blue Eaglet Kiefer Ravena tried to retrieve the ball but was bottled up by the UST shooting guard. In the ensuing struggle for possession, Tiger Cub teammate Kevin Ferrer came over to help and in doing so, his long arms not only entangled with Ravena but hit him as well.

The Atenean stood and confronted Ferrer. Earlier, Ferrer nailed Blue Eaglet Jed Austria with an elbow that went unnoticed by the officials much to the consternation of Ateneo. Prior to the match, the team talked about getting ready for the roughhousing but once the game began, the Tiger Cubs still managed to throw the Blue Eaglets off their game with their hustling and physical defense.

Now Ravena had enough. As he confronted Ferrer, he was slapped with a technical foul for trash talking. “I never said anything,” protested an indignant Ravena. “I was only asking what was his problem.”

Not only did the prodigious hoopster get nailed for his first T in four years of UAAP Juniors competition but his team also lost it’s first match of the season; a 77-71 beating in Game 1 of the UAAP Juniors Finals.

In that game, the Tiger Cubs ratcheted up their intensity after Jaypee Sarcia was sent off for a punching foul on Marky Mercado with Ateneo holding a slim 15-13 lead. Once UST overcame an early deficit to spot Ateneo a huge lead, the Blue Eaglets deviated from their game plan. Ravena had gotten so wrapped up with the personal battle with Ferrer his national teammate who was his rival for the season’s most valuable player award that the team suffered for it.

“You want him (Ferrer), you got him,” pronounced a disappointed Ateneo head coach Jamike Jarin after their jarring Game 1 loss. He was going to put his best player on the opposing team’s best player.

In Game 2, with Ravena guarding the much taller Ferrer from the outset, it took the lanky UST forward six minutes and thirty-one seconds before he got his first points of the game. It was a three-pointer from the deep right corner over Ravena for a 20-10 lead.

The Eaglets patiently chipped at the lead until Mercado entered the game in the second quarter and switched roles with Ravena. Almost immediately, Mercado stole the ball off Ferrer and he passed to a streaking Ravena who was fouled on the break. The Blue Eagle captain canned his two freethrows.

Mercado’s defensive stop had woken up Ateneo. They reeled in a 16-5 run that not only saw them overhaul an 11-point deficit but take their own seven-point halftime lead at 38-31.

With Ferrer out of the equation, it was up to Corre to carry the fight for UST.

In Game 1, he torched the nets for 24 points. Jarin admitted that it was his fault that he had allowed Corre to shoot freely as the plan was to shut down Ferrer. But there was a reason. The UST shooter hit 40% of his field goals during the eliminations. He shot the same in Game 1. Except that Ferrer also had 35 points as the duo accounted for all but 12 of UST’s total points.

At the start of the third quarter of Game 2, Corre hit a right corner pocket triple to bring UST close 34-38.

But Ravena almost single-handedly turned back the UST charge with 13 third quarter points while his teammates held Ferrer to a bucket. Although Ateneo led by five at 55-50, they had withstood UST’s assault and looked in control of the game.

In the final period of play, Corre hit a huge triple at the 5:53 mark. After Ateneo was unable to score in their next possession that had the Santo Tomas faithful screaming their lungs out in anticipation of the mother of all rallies, Mercado stole a pass by Cabauatan that he converted into a trey from the right side of the arc.

Once more, a fine defensive stop had given Ateneo an adrenaline shot to close out the game.

And they did just that on a 17-13 finishing kick with Mercado closing out the scoring with a free throw at 76-66 to knot the finals series at a game apiece.

They had not only seized back the advantage for they needed only one more win in the final three games of a ridiculous best-of-five series.

Ravena answered Ferrer’s Game 1 explosion with a 32-point outburst of his own that put the Blue Eaglets on the cusp of their 26^th Juniors title (*nine in the NCAA and 16 in the UAAP) second ever three-peat and first since Ateneo High School’s four straight from 1983-86.

As joyous as the team and its coaching staff was with the win for they had answered UST’s challenge, they tempered any excessive celebration with the thought that there was one more game to win.

“In a way, the undefeated record was like a burden,” explained Jarin. “After we lost in Game 1, the bright spot there was, a burden was lifted. The championship is always the goal and an undefeated season is just a bonus. And of course, it wasn’t a total lift because we still had to go out and win it. But now we have met the challenge and now we’re going out and get it.”

  

Ateneo 76 – Ravena 32, Pessumal 9, Mercado 7, Romero 5, Sacluti 4, Javelosa 4, Dumrique 4, Lim 3, Tenorio 3, Suarez 2, Puno 2, Austria 1, Vitangcol 0, Gamboa 0, Gadia 0

UST 66 – Corre 25, Cabauatan 16, Ferrer 9, Gooh 5, Ilarde 4, Lazaro 3, Florentin 2, Mison 2, Salas 0


* The Blue Eaglets have nine NCAA Juniors titles and 16 UAAP Juniors titles.