Ateneo draws first blood against DLSU
Monday, 10 August 2009 10,797 Views / 143 Comments
IN WHAT turned out to be yet another epic battle between two of the fiercest rivals in Philippine sports, Ateneo de Manila proved to be the tougher in crunchtime as it swooped down on a resilient De La Salle University, 76-72 at the Araneta Coliseum last August 9.
DLSU, which lost its opening two games before rattling four consecutive wins, came out blazing. Second-year forward Joshua Webb capitalized on the seams in a porous Ateneo defense and slashed his way to 17 points in just 14 minutes of first half action. Two charities from Webb with 7:02 remaining in the third period gave the Green Archers their largest lead of the game, 46-36.
The Blue Eagles remained calm, however, and responded by locking up the interior. As La Salle had no other option but to hoist shots from the perimeter and behind the arc, Ateneo buried its shots. Jai Reyes hit back-to-back triples to help the Blue and White inch closer at 54-52. Perhaps, the turning point of the game came at the 6:43 mark when Bacon Austria inadvertently fouled Webb on a miscue. As the two cagers came down on the floor, Webb was caught kicking Austria. A scuffle almost ensued, but cooler heads prevailed. Webb and Simon Atkins were assessed unsportsmanlike fouls, while Austria was tagged with a technical.
The burly ex-Ateneo Blue Eaglet then hit the succeeding free throws to tie the game at 57. Eric Salamat, whose go-ahead three sparked an 8-4 run that gave the Katipunan unit a 65-61 lead with 23 ticks left in regulation. Rookie Arvie Bringas and Hyram Bagatsing then buried a triple each to send the game into overtime, with the latter beating the buzzer after Ryan Buenafe canned two freebies.
The five-minute extension saw Ateneo make use of its momentum, with Salamat scoring on a free throw and Baclao hitting a layup to hand the advantage to the defending champions for good, 72-69, with 2:02 in overtime. The Blue Eagles promptly held on for their sixth win in seven outings.
Black commented, “We came up [big] in the second half, we played [with] energy. In the first half, we gave up too many points. My challenge to my players, in order to win the game, was to come up with good defense.â€
The relentless Webb led DLSU, which skidded to 4-3 in the team standings, with a career-best 26 points and four boards. While both teams shot below 40 percent from the field, Ateneo took advantage of the game tempo with seven more fastbreak points.
Salamat and reigning Most Valuable Player Rabeh Al-Hussaini scored 13 points apiece to tow Ateneo to its third straight win after losing to University of the Philippines.
The scores:
Ateneo 76 – Salamat 13, Al-Hussaini 13, Salva 10, Reyes 8, Baclao 7, Austria 7, Long 5, Buenafe 5, Sumalinog 3, Monfort 3, Chua 2.
DLSU 72 – Webb 26, Bringas 10, Mendoza 8, Bagatsing 7, Malabes 6, Co 4, Marata 3, Tolentino 2, Ferdinand 2, Barua 2, Andrada 2, Villanueva 0, Mangahas 0, Atkins 0.
Quarter scores: 22-26, 32-40, 46-50, 67-67, 76-72.
(13 votes, average: 3.62 out of 5)
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