After all, this 400-year old Dominican university got a one-two punch from this 150 year old Jesuit institution that used to exist as "Colegio de Manila" more than 10 years before Santo Tomas became a "Catholic, Royal, Pontifical" university. Last week, the Blue Babble Battalion got the second place in the UAAP Season 72 Cheerdance Competition, a position that the UST Salinggawi dancers have held on to for the past years (since UP got the cheerdance crown). And now, the Blue Eagles completely toppled the Growling Tigers and sent MVP Dylan Ababou and ROY awardee Jeric Teng home with their trophies, but not with another chance at the finals since 2006. Well, in the postmodern world, a hundred and fifty just meant more than turning four hundred, and if Rizal were alive up to this day, he could probably be the one to say this in his blog.
And chemistry is the key word for the week. Discipline and proper ball distribution became the keys to the lopsided 81-64 win over UST. The ball distribution was so smooth and the plays were executed well, to the point that almost all the players put on the floor had a chance to find open shots and score. In terms of working on the other side of the court, the Eagles held down the Tigers to an all-time low 27 percent shooting, keeping all their scorers checked and forcing them to put up forced treys.
The opening canto served as a way for testing the waters (no, not the floods in Espana) of the Tigers. A little tit-for-tat there from Dylan Ababou and Jeric Fortuna vis-a-vis pretty much every Ateneo baller put in the court. UST relied too much in their outside shots, for the inside was pretty much difficult to penetrate. So we could say that the first phase was a little close - eventually the closest that UST was able to get.
But come second quarter, the Eagles were on fire, as they were able to widen the gap and manage to keep UST to only as close as nine points behind. Despite having a lot of fouls (which people of the Ateneo side would presumably judge as bad calls), everyone managed to keep their head in the game and go for the win. Even the second squad was able to maintain the momentum courtesy of Ryan Buenafe and company (and yes, even including Oping Sumalinog and Justin Chua, who replaced Nico Salva, who was suspended because of the "incident" with Jens Knuttel of FEU). The Tigers, on the other hand, became deeply pressured and was not able to climb back. Even though Ababou was able to keep the Tigers a bit afloat, the performance of the rest of the team, most especially Chris Camus and Jeric Fortuna carrying the burden of guarding the fastest and most dangerous men of Ateneo, broke down.
And the second half was, as they say, Ateneo all the way. The lead extended to 25, all because of smooth offense and tough defense. UST continued to shoot from beyond the arc, but as they made their treys, Ateneo would respond with daggers of their own. Even Nonoy Baclao managed to make a side three-pointer near the end of the game. The semifinals closed out in a celebratory note, as a message both to FEU and NU as they gear themselves up and decide on who's going to duel with the Eagles on Sunday.
Then again, a few notes needed to mention:
-Surprisingly, it was not General Salamat who led the way, though he had an unbelievable 4 key steals that came with 6 points and 5 assists
-The future of the Tigers lie on the two Jerics (Fortuna and Teng). The Eagles should be prepared to face these two in the years to come.
-Oping Sumalinog contributed a good deal for Ateneo. And also, it was a pleasant thing to see Justin Chua playing the post. We're eyeing the future here.
-Rabeh still has to learn a little discipline and stop acting like a VIP. The eyes of the refs are on him, and I think that this will still be the case in the Finals.
-It is in this game that we see the real contribution of Ryan Buenafe, something that the statistics would not show. Killer drives and passes eventually distract the defense and leave other players open.
-Two equally unbelievable treys: Nonoy Baclao's and Eman Monfort's (though this one missed, but hey, who could pull off a trick-shot three that nearly came in? No one but in Ateneo)
-For opponents: don't dare bring bad vibes to Jai Reyes. He gets better when the rage meter goes up.
-I sense new Smart Gilas members here (read: Nonoy Baclao and Eric Salamat) and better Ateneo players next year.
-The sixth man did a good job cheering for the blue today.
-there is no mention of FEU swingman Andy Barroca for the day. I say that if it would be proven that he does no game-fixing, then FEU will be in big trouble. C'mon, you don't kick out a player for being that too bad for several games.
*photo courtesy of fabilioh.com
