De La Salle upends Ateneo, books q’final ticket
Saturday, 4 June 2011 4,325 Views / 208 Comments
THE De La Salle University Green Archers held their archrival Ateneo de Manila University scoreless in the last 1:23 to carve out a 66-61 triumph under must-win conditions in the 2011 FilOil Flying V Pre-Season Premier Cup at the FilOil Flying V Arena in San Juan last June 4.
Kiefer Ravena had found Nico Salva wide open for a game-tying jumper, 61-all, before the Blue Eagles missed all their attempts afterwards. Along the way, the comebacking LA Revilla scored on two key baskets that pushed the La Salle lead up to four, 65-61. The most senior Archer on the team, Simon Atkins, then sealed the game by splitting his free throws and sending his squad to the last eight of the tournament.
“We made some stops in the last few minutes,” said a beaming De La Salle coach Dindo Pumaren after the game.
With the win, the Green Archers managed to sneak into the top four of Group A with a 4-3 record. They’ll face the top-seed in Group B, Far Eastern University in the quarterfinals on Monday, June 6 at 4 p.m. The Blue Eagles, on the other hand, fell to 5-2 and lost out on an opportunity to clinch the number one spot in the group, which went to San Beda College through the quotient system. Ateneo takes on Mapúa at 11 a.m. this coming Monday as well.
Ateneo led at 4-1 early in the first quarter, but couldn’t get their shots to fall until there was 1:24 left in the canto, allowing the Archers to surge ahead 17-10.
DLSU seemingly couldn’t miss, as it piled on field goal after field goal to surge ahead by as much as 12, 32-20, after a Joseph Marata jumper. Ateneo rediscovered its groove at that point, closing out the first half on an 11-4 run capped by a booming triple by Emman Monfort to cut the deficit to 36-31 entering halftime.
An early Green Archer onslaught rebuilt the lead to 39-31 behind a jumper by Norbert Torres and a charity by Joshua Webb. But pesky play from Ateneo trimmed things to just three, 48-45, after a split from the foul line by Justin Chua. A buzzer-beating Bacon Austria triple pulled the blue shirts to within a point, 49-48, with the final period left to play.
Two more charities by Chua gave Ateneo its first lead since the opening salvo of the first quarter, 50-49. But the ensuing play turned grim for La Salle as Torres hurt his elbow while trying to box out Ateneo enforcer Frank Golla. Torres had to be carried out and afterwards was taken to Cardinal Santos Hospital with an initial diagnosis being a hyperextended elbow.
Fueled by the injury, De La Salle unleashed an 8-0 blast that gave Ateneo a 57-50 hole to dig out of, which the Blue Eagles did by tying the count at 61 before Revilla’s mini-burst.
Revilla, who had missed the last two UAAP seasons because of a medical condition, led the Archers with 12 points, six rebounds and three assists. Marata added 10 points, while Simon Atkins tallied eight markers and four swipes.
Fresh off their summer training in Las Vegas, the Blue Eagles were led by Nico Salva’s 18 points and seven rebounds. Freshman sensation Kiefer Ravena added 10 points and six dimes, while the towering Greg Slaughter had just two points because of foul trouble, though he managed to reject four shots in just 12 minutes.
Ateneo mentor Norman Black said, “Give credit to La Salle, they wanted it more.” The architect of the Blue Eagles’ three-peat championship run also noted that “it’s summer. Our main focus is the UAAP. We’ll stay focused, and get better in July, and get better in September.”
The normally speedy Blue Eagles were held to just six fast breakpoints and got killed on the glass as they gave up 14 second chance points to the Green Archers. They also turned the leather over 19 times, five more than their tournament average, giving De La Salle 14 turnover points.
For the second straight game, the Archers were able to survive a horrible percentage at the line by building a big enough lead to shrug off their misadventures at the charity stripe. In this game, they hit just 10 of their 22 free throws, but they were able to overcome their Achilles’ heel thanks to their tough defense. W5
The scores:
DLSU 66 – Revilla 12, Marata 10, de la Paz 9, Atkins 8, Andrada 5, Paredes 5, Torres 4, Mendoza 4, Van Opstal 3, Villanueva 2, Gotladera 2, Vosotros 1, Webb 1, Tampus 0
Ateneo 61 – Salva 18, Ravena 10, Long 7, Monfort 7, Chua 7, Austria 6, Tiongson 4, Slaughter 2, Golla 0, Gonzaga 0, Sumalinog 0, Erram 0
Quarter scoring: 17-10, 36-31, 49-48, 66-61
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