Blue Eagles knock out Red Lions, clinch finals seat
Friday, 9 December 2011 2,876 Views / 181 Comments
ATENEO de Manila University will get a chance to defend its Philippine Collegiate Champions League crown.
The back-to-back national champions and reigning four-time UAAP titleholders advanced to the Finals of this year’s PCCL with a 76-63 victory over the two-time NCAA victors San Beda College in the final game of the round-robin Final Four last December 9, at the Arena in San Juan.
“Once again, our defense held up, something that did not happen against San Sebastian. As long as our defense holds up, we have a chance to win,” said Ateneo head coach Norman Black.
In a game Black described as “not very pretty, particularly in the end,” the beginning was actually no better as the Red Lions zoomed out to a 7-0 start. The quick deficit served to wake up the Blue Eagles, though, as they countered with a 15-2 run, snatching the lead away from San Beda for good, 15-9, behind Greg Slaughter and Nico Salva.
Six more unanswered from a Kiefer Ravena-led second unit gave Ateneo its first double-digit lead, 29-19, forcing San Beda to call for time with 7:43 left in the second. Though it got a quick five points out of it, Ateneo came back to create enough separation, 37-28 entering the break. The Blue Eagles then unleashed another huge run out of halftime, zooming out to their biggest advantage, 47-31, all courtesy of Slaughter and Salva. The Red Lions countered with the fiery shooting of Mar Villahermosa, who almost single-handedly kept San Beda in the game. His split at the line trimmed the gap to 51-44 late in the third.
Unfortunately for San Beda, the Blue Eagles halted all their attempts to eat into the deficit, with Ravena’s scoring prowess proving to be the key. An and-one play by Tonino Gonzaga, off a Slaughter assist, upped the lead back to 68-55 with 4:32 remaining. A charity by Dave Marcelo and a transition score by Rome de la Rosa brought the lead back down to 10 once more before the troika of Ravena, Slaughter and Salva each scored a field goal that padded the advantage to 74-58, a big enough gap with 1:24 left on the clock. Some sloppy turnovers by Ateneo allowed San Beda to score a quick five points. But with 27.4 seconds left, a Kirk Long steal led to a run-out by Nico Salva, who flushed the ball down the hoop for the capper.
Slaughter led the Blue Eagles with 20 points and eight rebounds. Assuming the point guard position again, Ravena tallied 18 points, three boards and four dimes. UAAP Finals MVP Salva added 17 and eight. After combining for a single point in the fourth quarter versus San Sebastian, Ateneo’s three best players accounted for 16 in the final period, quashing the possibility of a last-minute rally by San Beda.
Ateneo very nearly had a monkey wrech thrown into their plans of a third straight title as the team assembled piecemeal due to the poor weather outside. With just an hour left before the 4 p.m. tipoff, barely half the team had made it to the venue. “We had half the team come in late today because of the rain and traffic and I was a little bit concerned about who was going to be part of the starting five,” admitted Black, who himself arrived just 25 minutes before the start of the game. Luckily though, only Bacon Austria was significantly delayed, arriving at the start of the second quarter. Emman Monfort missed the game entirely due to PBA D-League commitments.
Villahermosa had a game-best 21 markers, 10 coming in the third quarter, for the depleted Red and White. De la Rosa added 14 while Marcelo, who played alongside most of the Blue Eagles in that victorious Southeast Asian Games team, had seven and three boards. Many expected 2010 NCAA MVP Sudan Daniel to finally get onto the court to match up against Slaughter, but the American was in civilian wear on the sideline, as was Jake Pascual (stomach ailment) and Garvo Lanete (shoulder).
With the victory, Ateneo advanced to the finals against the San Sebastian College-Recoletos Stags, who possess a twice-to-beat advantage. It’s actually familiar territory for the Eagles, who were down 1-0 against the FEU Tamaraws and the Adamson Falcons respectively, in the last two PCCL Finals before taking the crown on both occassions. That game will take place on Monday, December 12 at 4 p.m.
The Red Lions will also play for third place on that same day, at 2 p.m., against the University of Cebu Webmasters, whom they dispatched earlier in the Final Four, 83-77.
The scores:
Ateneo 76 – Slaughter 20, Ravena 18, Salva 17, Chua 6, Gonzaga 5, Austria 4, Long 4, Tiongson 2, Golla 0, Pessumal 0, Capacio 0, Erram 0
San Beda 63 – Villahermosa 21, de la Rosa 14, Marcelo 7, Pascual 6, Amer 6, Lim 5, Caram 4, Sorela 0, Koga 0, Pontejos 0
Quarter scoring: 23-19, 37-28, 55-44, 76-63
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