Ateneo’s Kirk Long led the Blue Eagles’ mastery over FEU
Defending Back-to-Back Champion Ateneo de Manila University moved a win shy of a rare three-peat in the UAAP Men’s Basketball, after a surprising blowout win against top seeded Far Eastern University, 72-49 Saturday in game one of the best-of-three title series at the Big Dome.
The win went down as the most lopsided Finals victory since 1998. Hence the disappointment of the FEU coaching staff. FEU‘s Athletic Director Mark Molina said, “Its sad, I’m embarrassed.” “In the first quarter, I don't know if we caught up too much in the atmosphere of playing in the finals.”
ATENEO’S BEST GAME OF THE YEAR
Ateneo’s championship experience proved to be unmatched even by the Talented FEU team. The Blue Eagles did not only got back at the league leading Tamaraws, who beat them twice in the eliminations, they also hold down the latter to a measly 27 percent shooting clip in Game 1, compared to Ateneo’s 47.5 clip. The Katipunan-based squad outclassed the Morayta-based team in almost all aspects, including: fastbreak (15-0), turnover (7-16), points in the paint (42-22) and bench scoring (32-12).
This is probably our best game of the year, says Ateneo head coach Norman Black who is also seeking for his first three-peat since winning one as a PBA coach with San Miguel in 1989. Black is poised to be the second coach since the legendary Baby Dalupan to win a grandslam both in the pro and collegiate league - Dalupan gained prominence by coaching the University of the East Red Warriors to a record 12 UAAP titles and the Ateneo Blue Eagles to 2 NCAA titles. “We really don't talk about that too much. We're just trying to win the championship. Of course, we've been here before, and a lot of our guys too, but our motivation is to go out and win, nothing more and nothing less.”, Black said.
In game 1 of the titular showdown, Ateneo dusted FEU off the breaks, chalking up 15 transition points to none against the Tamaraws, including 9 in a 20-2 first quarter run, which apparently set the tone of the game.
With RR Garcia forced out of his playmaking chores by Ateneo’s menacing half court defense early on, FEU settled for erratic one-on-one plays and poor shot selection to mirror a woeful 21.9% clip in the first half.
By the time Garcia and the Tamaraw squad started to find their range and desperately catching up, the Eagles were already gliding on top with a commanding 42-21 margin heading into the third period.
Consecutive baskets from Salva that sandwiched a Long triple to open the third gave Ateneo its biggest lead at 47-21.
The Tamaraws responded, though sparingly on a Romeo three and Chris Exciminiano lay-up for a 35-53 count before Monfort nailed a three and Chua went for an under goal stab to restore Ateneo’s 20-plus lead, 60-48.
The Eagles again led by as much as 25 points, 66-41, on a Monfort drive with less than 6 minutes remaining in the pay-off period and Ateneo was never seriously threatened from thereon for a Tamaraw comeback, which did not really happened in a forgettable championship match for FEU.
NOTES
Per league’s record, the winning team in Game 1 turned out to be the series winner in 12 out of the last 16 UAAP Men’s Basketball best-of-three championship showdown. Thus, a seemingly inevitable Ateneo three-peat achievement will put them among the ranks of FEU, UST, UE and La Salle as the only teams to dominate the league for three consecutive seasons.
After the two hour closed-door meeting with the team, FEU head coach Glenn Capacio finally claimed that he did not see any effort on his team. “The players just showed 50 percent of it. We were outplayed. We didn’t win in any department.” Team Captain Jens Knuttel on the other hand said, “We want to show to everyone that we’re not patsies, we waited for this opportunity for how many years. We showed the effort all season long, but in the finals, we suddenly showed up lacking the effort.”
DOUBLE WHAMMY FOR FEU
The FEU Women’s Basketball Team, who won the crown two years ago and last year’s second placer had the same fate earlier that day as defending titlist Adamson outclassed the Lady Tams, 75-69 to move an inch closer to winning the championship for two years in a row.
It was a double whammy indeed, ironically both FEU Basketball Teams finished the elimination round as the number 1 team in the league.
Game 2 for both Men’s and Women’s Basketball Finals is set on Thursday (September 30) at the Araneta Coliseum, Women’s game starts at 11 am, followed by the UAAP individual awards at 3pm and Senior’s at 4pm.
Keep the Faith!
The Scores:
First game (Women’s Result)
AdU 75 – Buendia 28, Roque 22, Almazan 9, Sandel 8, Ortega 6, Mangahas 2, Bernardo 0, Penaranda 0.
FEU 69 – Lim 17, Palmera 13, Borja 12, Positos 12, Columna 7, Sicat 6, Soriano 2, Cabochan 0, Supnet 0, Yazon 0.
Quarterscores: 22-8, 41-30, 54-44, 75-69.
Second Game (Senior’s Result)
ADMU 72 – Long 14, Chua 13, Salva 10, Monfort 9, Austria 8, Salamat 8, Erram 4, Gonzaga 2, Golla 2, Buenafe 2, Tingson 0, Dela Cruz 0.
FEU 49 – Garcia 11, Romeo 10, Cervantes 7, Noundou 6, Ramos 6, Cawaling 3, Exciminiano 2, Cruz 2, Bringas 2, Guerrero 0, Mendoza 0, Knuttel 0, Sanga 0.
Quarter scores: 26-8, 42-21, 60-38, 72-49.
with report from UAAP sports
