The Ateneo Blue Eagles clinched their fourth straight mens basketball title today as they defeated the FEU Tamaraws 82-69 in game 2 of their championship series. Forward Nico Salva was awarded the MVP of the finals.
And so ends another UAAP basketball season. No doubt the Blue Eagles are still hungry to extend their reign next year and they definitely have what it takes to do just that.
So the question is, who is going to stop them?
The UAAP men’s basketball Final 4 starts this Thursday, and it feels a little strange for our Green Archers to be relegated to the role of spectators at these playoffs. Ateneo dominated most of the eliminations to top the list, Adamson performed according to pre-season expectations to place second, FEU was inconsistent and slid down to 3rd, and UST grabbed the last slot with a good finishing kick in the second round. Here’s our preview for both match-ups.
Ateneo (13-1) vs UST (8-6)
Season series:
1st: Ateneo 66 UST 53
2nd: Ateneo 82 UST 57
This year, the Blue Eagles have been playing like a team on a mission – nothing less than a fourth-straight UAAP championship will do. For the past seasons they have successfully managed to add the right pieces to make them the most consistent and diligent team. They have basically steam-rolled past the competition, winning by an average margin of 15 points. Though they were blown out by Adamson in their last game, the Blue Eagles are just too good to fall apart at this stage of the tournament.
UST has been one of the surprises this season. After a sluggish first round, the Growling Tigers caught fire towards the end of the eliminations and at one point even had a chance to nail the second spot in the semis. They’re not considered to have the depth of talent like the other teams but they make that up with hard work and determination.
Key Match-ups
Greg Slaughter vs Karim Abdul – Their team’s fortunes will depend heavily on these two bigmen. Slaughter has been a solid force in the paint while Abdul has been the that low-post threat the Growling Tigers sorely missed since Jervy Cruz left three years ago.
Kiefer Ravena vs Jeric Teng – It’s going to be a duel between these high-scoring guards. Ravena, considered as a cinch to win Rookie of the Year, has been the player everyone expected him to be. Teng on the other hand has emerged as the Tigers top scorer for the past two years. Both players are averaging close to 14 points and 4 rebounds per game.
X-Factors
Ateneo: Nico Salva – The Blue Eagles would need to get steady production from this versatile wingman. Salva is Ateneo’s third leading scorer and his versatility has been a large part to the team’s success. His failure to contribute in their last game against Adamson was one of the factors that led to the loss.
UST: Chris Camus – He is a workhorse on both ends of the floor. You got to love the hustle and energy he brings every game. This season, he added another dimension in his game by improving his outside shot.
The Outcome
The Growling Tigers are no strangers when it comes to Final 4 upsets. They did it back in 1994 and 2006 and on both occasions, they eventually won the title. However, defeating a well-oiled Ateneo squad twice seems to be wishful thinking. Expect the defending three-peat champions to run away with the easy victory here. There’s no stopping the Blue Eagles from entering the Finals and a shot at cementing their place in history.
Adamson (10-4) vs FEU (9-5)
Season series:
1st: Adamson 78 UST 59
2nd: FEU 62 UST 61
After almost two decades of futility, the Falcons have finally found the winning formula. This has got to be strongest Adamson team since 1992 when they had the likes Aquino, Fiehl and Duremdes. The only team to hand Ateneo its first loss of the season, these Falcons are legitimate title contenders.
The Tamaraws were heavily favored this season but somehow struggled especially during the middle part of the tournament. Despite the sidelining of several key stalwarts, FEU was able to muster enough wins down the homestretch to finish third after the elimination round.
Key Match-ups
Lester Alvarez vs RR Garcia – Both are wily guards who can just explode offensively at any time. While Garcia has an advantage in size, Alvarez is the more efficient playmaker and is tops in steals.
Alex Nuyles vs Terrence Romeo – Nuyles has been truly a revelation this year. Not only is he one of the top scorers in the league, he is also among the leaders in the assists category. His athleticism makes him difficult to guard. Romeo, just like Garcia is more of a shooting guard who can torch the defense when he gets his groove from the outside.
X-Factors
Adamson: Eric Camson – Another player who showed tremendous improvement this season. Camson’s rebounding tenacity and soft touch from the perimeter will be very much needed by the Falcons if they intend to go to the finals.
FEU: Aldrech Ramos – With FEU somewhat being a guard-dominated team, Ramos has become a silent operator. The unflashy center is the Tamaraws’ second top scorer and leader in rebounds. Playing in his final year, he will definitely step up his game further to help his team return to the finals.
The Outcome
This is just Adamson’s third time to be in the Final Four and they have not yet won a game in this phase. Though armed with a twice-to-beat advantage, the question remains if the Falcons have what it takes to win when the stakes are at their highest? With many of their starters graduating, this is probably their one best shot to finally end a 34-year title drought.
For FEU, history is not on their side when not having the twice-to-beat. In the 6 times they ranked either 3rd or 4th in the Final Four, they were only able to win a series just once (2000).
Both squads appear to be heavily matched but I’ll give Adamson the slight edge. No doubt, the Falcons are the hungrier team. If the Tamaraws can turn up the tempo, they can probably force a deciding game on Sunday. If that happens, it’s everybody’s ballgame.
0-4. That’s the 2nd round record of the Green Archers after they fell to Ateneo, 62-79 last Sunday.
4-7. That’s the current record of the team.
7-7. The best-case record of the team after two rounds. That’s also the minimum that’s needed to even tie for the last spot in the playoffs.
3-0. Sweep the last 3 games against UP, FEU, and NU if they ever hope to get a tie UST, while hoping that UST obliges us by crashing and burning in their last 3 games. Both scenarios are a bit farfetched, our winning our last 3 games the more remote of the two.
So what happened against Ateneo?
Nada. Zilch. Nothing. Zero. We lost the game via rout, this being the biggest losing margin to-date this season. We lost all 4 quarters, although we were fairly competitive in the first half, falling behind by only 5 points after 10 minutes. Not very good, but not very bad either.
The team’s performance gave supporters some false hopes that the second half would see the team overcome the Blue Eagles’ perceived dominance.
C’mon guys, haven’t we learned anything after watching 10 games so far? We’ve always come to expect that the opposing coaches will use the halftime break to analyze what we’re doing, and come up with the necessary changes in their game plan, while our coaches will continue to push what they started with. Predictable. Unable to adjust. So the second half began, following exactly this scenario. The Blue Eagles pounced, we fell behind double digits, and never recovered.
The first half performance allowed the Blue Eagles to reach their comfort level because our lack of any surprises, and once they got into their preferred game groove, it would have taken an exceptional effort and extraordinarily great game for us to beat them. Both of which were beyond the capabilities of our players last Sunday. Read more…
When the Green Archers began the second round against the Adamson Falcons, their goal was to win their fifth game. Unfortunately, four games later, their goal is still to notch that elusive fifth win.
After the first twenty minutes of their second round encounter with bitter rival Ateneo Blue Eagles, the Archers found themselves down by only five points. The team was bannered by Oda Tampus, who already had nine points across his name.
During the turn, the Animo Squad gave a rousing halftime performance that somehow uplifted the outnumbered gallery of Green-clad supporters. And, best of all, Greg Slaughter, the Eagles’ seven-foot center, had only spent a total of four minutes on the floor after picking his second foul early in the second canto.
However, the next twenty minutes of the match would be a different story, as what was initially a nail-biter was turned into a rout, one turnover and botched three-pointer at a time.
Unlike their first meeting wherein they were able to whittle the lead of the Loyola-based dribblers down to a handful of points, the Archers were unable to mount any kind of comeback to surmount the lead of their rivals.
By the end of the match, the score was 62-79 in favor of the Eagles, which sent the Archers reeling from their fourth straight setback and further dimmed their flickering Final Four hopes. Read more…
As posted in Archerpride.com
After three consecutive losses, the Archers look to regain some pride on Sunday as they face defending champions and unbeaten Ateneo.
Coming from a tough losses against UE and UST, games which many felt we should have won, the Archers look a bit down coming into this weekend’s game against our fiercest rival. A loss could be fatal to our team’s chances of getting a playoff slot, so this game has the significance of being a must-win in more ways than one.
It will be an uphill battle for sure, with the Archers down one key big man in Yutien Andrada, leaving Arnold Van Opstal, Norbert Torres, Maui Villanueva, and Papot Paredes to face Ateneo’s imposing frontliners led by seven-footer Slaughter, effective Nico Salva, Justin Chua and Frank Golla.
It must be remembered that rookie Ravena had his breakout game in our first round encounter, going off for 24 points with 22 in the first half. His early outburst helped Ateneo take control of the game and set the Archers on their heels, forcing them to play catch up all game long.
So the deck is stacked against us. How will the Archers respond? Read more…
Yet another one that got away. But this one got away early. For the second straight game, the Archers took an early lead in the first quarter, then allowed one of the crack guards of the opposing team to get hot, in so doing surrendering the initiative to Ateneo, to fall 72-81. This was the second consecutive 9-point loss of the Archers to begin their S74 campaign on a sour 0-2 note.
Kiefer Ravena got hot early, and almost single-handedly towed Ateneo to an 11-point lead at the half, which they extended to 19, threatening a blow out, before the Archers clawed back to within 5 before the veterans of Ateneo managed to create separation at the end.
Dissecting the game that was
For the second straight game, the Archers shot terribly from the field, hitting only 31.9% of their fg attempts, not much better than their 29.9% against FEU. They took 10 more attempts than their counterparts but made 5 less field goals. The Archers did manage to string together consecutive baskets off defensive stops in the last quarter to cut the lead to 70-75, but these were followed by consecutive misses which were forced the Archers to foul the ball handler to get possession. Unfortunately Monfort made the most of these foul throws to extend the lead and clinch the win.
The offensive futility was best exemplified by the obvious attempt by the coaches to establish Norbert Torres’ game. His game stats – 31 minutes, just 9 points, 6 rebounds (3 off, 3 def), 3 assists, 2 steals, 3 blocks, 1 turnover, 3 fouls, and he took 16 attempts, mostly from the outside, but sank only 3 of them. 0/5 from the 3point area. Interestingly, against FEU he was a bit more passive offensively, taking only 6 attempts and making 2. Simon Atkins also continued his exercise in offensive futility which started against FEU. He missed all 4 of his 3pointers, and made 1 out of his 2 field goal attempts from closer in. Atkins has only made 2 out of his 14 attempts from the field in the first 2 games.
The question is: how long will the coaches persist with a game plan when some players for whom the plays are called aren’t shooting well. It made sense when the shooter is Renren Ritualo, but Torres hasn’t reached that level of accuracy yet. His 16 attempts were almost a fourth of our 72 total tries from the field. In contrast, Sam Marata, our acknowledged sharpshooter, took only 8 attempts, made 1 of 2 of his treys and 2/6 from 2-point territory. Granted, Marata is a marked man, since most of the plays the team runs for him are already known to Ateneo and to all the other teams. This begs the question – how can Ateneo and the other teams free up their gunners on the outside, yet we can’t? Koreans are particularly good at setting up their shooters, so hopefully we would have been able to pick up something from the trips to Korea. It hasn’t shown up yet, though.
Other players were better in putting the ball in the basket. Luigi dela Paz made both of his 3point attempts but missed both his 2-point attempts. Only 4 attempts in 20 minutes. Wonder what might have happened if he had been set up a bit more? LA Revilla was the most effective Archer offensively, making 6 of his 10 attempts. However, as the primary pg in charge of ball distribution, it would be difficult for him to take most of the shots. Maybe he should sometimes take a leaf from RR Garcia and take it himself when his teammates can’t get it done.
Oda Tampus was a bright spot with his intensity both on offense and defense. He bodied up well on the opposing guards, and impeded their attempts to penetrate our perimeter. On offense, he was fearless, perhaps too much, but he kept trying, making 3/8 of his attempts in only 13 minutes to go with 4 rebounds, 2 of them offensive. Read more…
The Green Archers are now 0-2 to start the season as they bowed down to the Blue Eagles 72-81.
How it happened
La Salle was successful in muscling Greg Slaughter away from his sweet spot. He was only able to register 7 markers, a far cry from his 23-point performance a week ago. The problem was that the Archers allowed Kiefer Ravena to have a field day in the first half where he scored all but 2 of his 24 points. Veterans Nico Salva and Kirk Long picked-up the offensive slack in the second half as the Eagles led by as much as 17 points in the 3rd period.
The Green Archers, led by LA Revilla staged a rally as they trimmed the lead to 5 points midway in the 4th period. Their defense forced Ateneo to a series of turnovers but their efforts to take the lead fell short due to several botched plays down the stretch.
It was gallant performance by Revilla as he led the Archers with 22 points.
Stats of the Game
The Archers did very well from the foul line as they went 22 of 31 (71%). La Salle shot only 34.5% from the field as compared to Ateneo’s 52%.
Next Game
The Archers try to regroup as they battle the retooled UP Fighting Maroons next week. Though we are still in the early stages of the tournament, this game is already a “must-win” for the team.
Boxscores:
Ateneo 81 – Ravena 24, Salva 18, Monfort 10, Long 10, Slaughter 7, Golla 6, Tiongson 2, Gonzaga 2, Chua 2, Capacio 0, Sumalinog 0, Austria 0
De La Salle 72 – Revilla 22, Tampus 10, Torres 9, de la Paz 9, Marata 9, Van Opstal 5, Villanueva 4, Mendoza 2, Atkins 2, Sara 0, Gotladera 0, Vosotros 0, Paredes 0, Webb 0
Quarter scoring: 23-16, 41-30, 62-49, 81-72
The Green Archers look to bounce back from a tough opening-day loss as they go up against defending champion Ateneo. Game time is at 3PM.
It’s all about stopping Greg Slaughter. The 7-footer was a beast down low in the Eagles’ first game against Adamson as he netted 23 points on 9-14 shooting. He will be Ateneo’s focal point on offense this season.
La Salle has a horde of agile bigmen that can rotate in defending Slaughter. The key is to prevent him from moving closer to the basket and force him to make a tough shot.
Other Blue Eagles that need to be contained are Nico Salva, Kirk Long, Emman Monfort and Kiefer Ravena. Expect Ravena to spring back from a disappointing senior’s debut where he failed to score a single point.
For the Archers to have a good chance in winning, they have to connect on their outside shots. The team needs a good shooting performance from LA, Simon, Sam and Luigi in order to contend in this game. Though La Salle shot a fair 62% from the charity stripe in their last game, they need to do even better tomorrow against a very good free-throw shooting team in Ateneo.
In an intense game such as this, every possession and point matters. The Archers remain the underdogs in this match-up but they are expected to go all out for the win tomorrow and avoid going 0-2 early in the season.
UE Warriors
The UE Warriors are officially in rebuilding mode after having lost 8 players from last year – Lee, Martinez, Acibar, Reyes, Resopa, Razon, Ayala, and Hernandez. It will be particularly difficult to replace Lee, Acibar and Martinez, who were among the best shooters in the Warrior lineup. UE failed to make the playoffs last year. The Warriors seem to have a smallish lineup, so expect them to play an uptempo game with lots of small-ball lineups.
What happened last year?
We easily clobbered UE in the first round, 82-63, dominating all the way to win comfortably. However, the Warriors turned the tables on the Archers, 74-80 as UE caught fire in the final quarter. The Archer defense took a break and allowed UE to make 7 out of their 8 4th quarter field goal attempts.
How do we measure up against them?
Without the prolific duo of Lee and Martinez, the Warrior offense loses some of its punch, and the departure of the veterans Reyes and Acibar further weakens the Warrior lineup. UE’s lineup also doesn’t seem to have any pure centers, so we should win the battle of the boards. On the bench, Coach Dindo faces his former Purefoods teammate Jerry Codinera, who is making his collegiate coaching debut. We will most likely take both games against UE.
UE lineup:
Guard: CASAJEROS Lord, CHAVEZ Von, SUMANG Roi, SUMIDO Jay-ar, TAGARDA Lucas, ZAMAR Paul, ZOSA BJ
Guard/Forward: ENGUIO Biboy, SABANGAN Jessmar
Forward/Center: DE LEON RR, JAVIER Chris
Forward: DURAN Erwin, FLORES Jairold, MONTELIBANO Nico, NOBLE JM, SANTOS Adrian
Head coach: CODIÑERA, Jerry (1st season) Read more…
Showing a lot of end game poise down the stretch, the Blue Eagles escaped with a 65-62 victory over the Tamaraws to nail its third consecutive men’s basketball title. FEU finally showed up to play in Game 2 but Ateneo just had too much experience when it comes to playing in this type of atmosphere.
Congratulations to the Three-peat Champions!
