My thoughts about Ateneo’s huge bounce back win vs UP

My thoughts about Ateneo’s huge bounce back win vs UP

by rick olivares

There are no easy games against the UP Fighting Maroons. More so when you are trying to bounce back from a loss.

The Maroons’ ascent in the past three years isn’t by happenstance, but by design. Bo Perasol has done a very good job with rebuilding UP from ground up. This team has shed that stigma of losing and are now highly motivated and dangerous. What they need to work on though is their consistency.

Having said that, the same also applies to the Ateneo Blue Eagles. Because of their preseason success, it looked like they were going to roll over everyone. But the UAAP is all together another animal. This is a different arena with all sorts of pressure.

And there was pressure coming into the match after that galling loss to FEU. It didn’t help that Matt and Mike Nieto were out with injuries. After a tough first three quarters, Ateneo finally seized control in the last few minutes of the third to build on that six-point lead for the 83-66 win.

Here are our thoughts about the match…

How Tyler Tio would respond to taking over the starting point guard slot.

In his UAAP debut two seasons ago, Tyler exploded for 20 points versus UP. Since then he has struggled to find his place in the offense. In the last game, when he came out of the halftime break, he didn’t respond well. But in this game against UP, with a few days to prepare for the game he did very well. And that should do wonders for his confidence.

He wasn’t tentative. He attacked and orchestrated well. His final stat line read: 12 points, 5 assists, 2 rebounds, and 1 steal against ZERO turnovers. How about that? He was very dependable that when he returned in the second half, the team settled down.

Overcoming those nervy moments

For the first time this season, Angelo Kouame had to deal with early foul trouble. The bench came in and the lead went down again. Then UP made a third quarter run to erase that deficit. But what I have to like is how the Blue Eagles posted a 12 point lead in the second half with Kouame on the bench.

Adrian Wong losses a tooth and is prematurely out of the game

He played well in the short moment he was on the floor. Then he throws himself to the court and chips a tooth sending him out. You have to feel for this kid. A few years ago, he played with this angas where he would drive to the basket and make big baskets. Since his return, he has had some good moments in between lots of moments of indecision and poor play. Here’s hoping he gets healthy and finds his resolve this second round.

Much better effort all around by all who entered the game

Okay, the team shot better from the outside and when that happens, it helps the overall scheme of things. Most of the Blue Eagles chipped in such as Jolo Mendoza who was locked in from the moment he came in, SJ Belangel who scored four points but at times, held on to the ball too long, and Gian Mamuyac who was explosive. But it was disappointing to see Will Navarro and Aaron Black struggle in their few minutes on the floor. Hopefully, these two fellows can find their consistent groove.

All starters played well. We already pointed out to Tyler and Thirdy is coming up. We’d like to mention Raffy Verano who came up big and was more active (10 points, 7 boards, 2 steals, and 1 block). The only reason why UP’s bench outscored Ateneo’s was Bright Akhuetie came off the bench. Take away Bright’s 20 points and UP would only have 13 bench points (add Jerson Prado’s two points).

When Thirdy is on top of his game, there is no one better.

He scores, rebounds, finds teammates, and plays great defense. Is there any better all-around impact player in the league right now?

It is good to see him not chuck away a lot of shots from the outside as he attacked the rim with a lot of fire. In this game, he was his usual Tasmanian Devil self making things happen on many plays. Those defensive gems on Paul Desiderio and Javi Gomez De Liaño were incredible plays.

His stat line read: 21 points, 11 rebounds (4 from the offensive end), 2 steals, 2 blocks, and 1 assist against 3 turnovers.

And with this win, Ateneo took the top spot for the first time all season at 6-2 while Adamson (5-2) and FEU (5-3) both lost.

Was it me or did UP lack some fire?

I was a little surprised that UP came out with one, Bright Akhuetie off the bench, and two, a bit listless. While I think that it was a defensive and low scoring ball game, I was surprised that save for Paul Desiderio and Javi Gomez De Liaño, most of the Fighting Maroons seemed listless. I will not credit everything to the Ateneo defense.

This is the second game this season where I didn’t see Juan Gomez De Liaño play his usual game (the other was versus UST where he only caught fire late in the game). But this has to be a disappointing loss by UP as they drop to an even 3-5 with two consecutive losses (after they put together a three-game win streak).

I was also surprised to see David Murrell come off the bench. His uneven playing time, in my opinion, might be bugging his confidence. I cannot say though it is wrong as Javi Gomez De Liaño is playing so well.