Ateneo books Filoil Final Four slot at Mapua's expense

Ateneo books Filoil Final Four slot at Mapua's expense

by rick olivares w/pic by brosi g.

June 6, 2011

Filoil Flying V Arena of San Juan

Heading into Monday, the Ateneo Blue Eagles had a pair of dubious streaks going – a two-match losing streak and a string of failures in quarterfinals play of the Filoil Flying V Pre-Season Premier Cup.

Close to being dead on their legs after a three-week training camp in the United States, the Blue Eagles battled through awful play and a tough Mapua Cardinals team to pull through 63-56.

As the Cardinals answered every Blue Eagle bucket with one of their own, Ateneo got two huge plays from battle-tested veterans to give themselves some breathing room.

With less than five minutes to play and Mapua guard Jonathan Banal in his face, Blue Eagle co-captain Kirk Long buried a three-pointer for a 58-52 lead.

And with 36 seconds left in the game and Ateneo holding a four-point lead, fourth year forward Nico Salva pulled down a defensive rebound following a missed trey attempt by Banal. As he made his way down court, the fourth year forward saw teammate Greg Slaughter (13 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, and 1 block) seal off Mark Sarangay and Yousef Taha.

Salva stepped on the gas pedal and went in for an unchallenged layup and a 62-56 lead.

The 6’8” Taha, a Fil-Palestinian, outdueled Slaughter as he scored 24 points on top of pulling down 22 huge boards. But as the Fil-Am center from Virginia ran up front, Taha went to help Sarangay to prevent a lob pass. By the time he realized that Salva was intent on scoring, it was too late to stop the drive.

Freshman Keifer Ravena added a free throw to close out the scoring.

The Blue Eagles struggled from the three-point line and fared even worse on the glass as the Cardinals grabbed 50 boards to Ateneo’s 40. And even more telling was how Ateneo was once more slow (as they were against La Salle a few days earlier) in trying to retrieve the ball. Mapua pulled down 17 offensive rebounds while Ateneo managed only eight.

After the game, head coach Norman Black noted how his players seemed tired. “It’s obvious they didn’t have their legs. I think we were not able to give them much recovery time. It’s going to be a full week for us until the weekend but after that we will give them a week off.”

Black also described how Slaughter has not yet fully integrated himself into Ateneo’s finely tuned offense. “Last year, we had a wide open floor to operate. This year we have the Big Guy to integrate into our system so that is why our offense can be stagnant at times. Greg has had what – few practices with us since he joined the team in May? Our time in the States was mostly individual training and some games. With more practice, we’ll see what we can do.”

The win ended a two-match slide that began with a one-point loss to San Sebastian College-Recoletos some three weeks ago and the weekend loss to De La Salle University. The victory likewise marked the first time Ateneo advanced to the final four of the tournament.

Ateneo 63 – Slaughter 13, Ravena 13, Long 12, Salva 11, Chua 8, Sumalinog 4, Monfort 2, Golla 0, Austria 0, Tiongson 0.

Mapua 56 – Taha 24, Pascual 9, Mangahas 9, Ighalo 7, Banal 5, Ranises 2, Nimes 0, Sarangay 0, Parala 0, Stevens 0, Cantos 0.