Blue Eagles turn back Green Archers
Round 1 goes to the Ateneo Blue Eagles.
Showing poise and composure in the stretch, the Blue Eagles turned to its ‘troika of power’ to humble a gutsy La Salle Green Archers side, 71-61, in a highly-entertaining matchup Saturday in the UAAP Season 75 men’s basketball action at the packed MOA Arena.
Towering center Greg Slaughter finished with a game-high 20 points and seven boards while Kiefer Ravena and Nico Salva tallied 16 markers apiece that proved enough for the Blue Eagles to bag their second straight win and third overall against a lone defeat.
“When you play La Salle, there’s no guarantee how the game will be played,” noted Ateneo coach Norman Black.” I always expect the game to be tough. There’s so much school spirit in the building. Both teams go out and fight ‘til the very end.”
The win, which came on the heels of Ateneo’s 89-65 shellacking of host National University last July 22, also extended the Blue Eagles’ mastery of La Salle to four consecutive games and 10 of the last 11 outings of their storied rivalry since 2008 before a mammoth crowd of 17, 380.
Nifty playmaker LA Revilla stood tallest among the Green Archers with 16 points, five rebounds and seven assists while Jeron Teng pumped in 11 of his 13 markers in the second half and Norbert Torres added 11. La Salle, however, dropped its second straight game after starting the season with two straight wins.
With Ravena leading the transition attack, Ateneo got off to a quick start as it displayed a masterful first-quarter show, posting a 20-8 spread that ballooned to as many as 26-10 cushion–the biggest of the game– off two made charities from reserve center Justin Chua at the 7:08 mark in the second canto.
Back-to-back unmolested lay-ups from Revilla sparked the Green Archers’ 16-5 counterattack that trimmed the deficit to 26-31.
Undaunted by the Blue Eagles’ imposing presence, the Green Archers sped up the tempo behind Revilla, Torres and Teng, dropping a 16-7 run capped by the highly-touted rookie’s triple–his first of the season–that forged a 42-all count.
After Luigi dela Paz’s completed three-point play off a Chua foul put La Salle ahead for the first time 45-44 with a little over three minutes left, Ateneo pounced on its match-up advantages and scored nine of the last 14 points in the third canto for a 53-50 lead.
Just when the La Salle faithful thought they could pull off an upset, the Blue Eagles’ ‘Big 3’ buckled down to work, with Slaughter draining six for a 64-57 spread at the 2:41 mark.
“That’s the beauty of our team. We have Nico and Greg inside and they also have to focus on them. That brings a lot of opportunities for the other perimeter guys,” noted Ravena.
Jed Manguera kept the Archers’ hopes alive with a badly needed trey that pulled them to within 60-64 but that proved to be their last successful attempt from the field in the last 2:24, succumbing to the immense pressure while the Eagles maintained their poise and composure to hang on.
