Eagles clobber Archers
Sunday, 22 August 2010 4,968 Views / 213 Comments
THIS time, the Ateneo Blue Eagles made sure they wouldn’t squander a big lead.
Riding high on the hot shooting of Kirk Long, the defending champion Eagles plastered archrivals De La Salle Green Archers, 74-57, to grab solo second as the elimination round of the UAAP enters it homestretch.
Careful to avoid a collapse similar to what happened in their first-round encounter, where they saw the Archers claw back from a nine-point deficit in the last four minutes, the Eagles built a huge lead in the second period and protected it till the final buzzer behind tough defense, Long’s scoring, and Ryan Buenafe’s brilliant all-round game.
“We did a good job closing out on their shooters,” said Ateneo coach Norman Black. “We played good perimeter defense, we challenged shots.”
The Archers were miserable from beyond the arc all game long, making only two of their 18 attempts. In contrast, the Eagles buried seven of 19, with Long hitting four of five. The Faith Academy alum led all scorers with 22 points, including nine during a pivotal first-quarter run that erased an early 9-4 DLSU lead.
Joel Tolentino’s three-pointer had given the Archers that five-point lead, but the Eagles went on to score 25 of the next 27 points, and before La Salle knew what had hit them, they were already staring at an 18-point deficit.
“They came out with a little more energy at the start of the game,” Long said. “But once we matched that energy, things settled into place.”
The closest the Archers could come was 14 at the start of the third, 39-25, before the Eagles responded with a 16-4 run behind Nico Salva, Long and Arthur Dela Cruz to open up their widest margin at 55-29, 4:27 left in the third.
La Salle was so out of synch offensively that they only made 15 of 29 free throws, with Maui Villanueva typifying their struggles by going 1 of 8.
The win allowed Ateneo to move up to second spot with an 8-2 mark, just a game behind pacesetting FEU. It also extended the Eagles’ winning streak to six.
La Salle dropped to 6-4 and saw its lead over NU reduced to two games with four games left to play.
Dela Cruz backed up Long with 10 points and 10 rebounds, while Buenafe had 9 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists. Jovet Mendoza scored all his 20 points in the second half to lead the Archers, with no one else hitting double figures.
The scores:
Ateneo 74 – Long 22, dela Cruz 10, Buenafe 9, Salva 9, Monfort 7, Salamat 6, Golla 6, Austria 3, Escueta 2, Chua 2, Erram 0, Tiongson 0.
DLSU 57 – Mendoza 20, Villanueva 7, Andrada 6, Tampus 5, Tolentino 5, Atkins 5, Marata 4, de la Paz 3, Webb 2, Vosotros 0, Paredes 0, Elorde 0, Ferdinand 0, Banal 0.
Quarter scoring: 19-11, 39-21, 61-40, 74-57.
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