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Chris Tiu took matters into his own hands in the fourth quarter. "As the best player on my team, he had to rise to the occasion," said coach Norman Black.
MANILA, Philippines -- Badly beaten by the Green Archers in the Final Four last season, the Ateneo Blue Eagles came into the game looking to exact vengeance.
In front of a sellout crowd of 22,000 fans at the Araneta, the Blue Eagles watched the favored defending champions falter offensively in the final two minutes to hack out a 79-73 inaugural victory Sunday in the second playing day of the 71st UAAP men's basketball season.
Known for his steely nerves down the stretch, grizzled veteran JV Casio uncharacteristically bungled three of La Salle's last five attempts and in one occasion, saw himself being cleanly stripped of the leather in the act of shooting by counterpart Yuri Escueta.
JV Casio had the ball cleanly stripped by Yuri Escueta down the stretch.
La Salle still had one final opportunity to level the count at 76-all with a possible three-pointer, this after Chris Tiu merely sank two of three free throws off a rookie mistake foul by La Salle's Hyram Bagatsing.
However, Casio decided to pass up this time to Peejay Barua. Not used to endgame pressure, Barua's quartercourt three-point attempt went wide off the glass.
Bagatsing tagged an off-balanced Tiu in midair to send the sharpshooting guard to the stripe for three charities with 38.5 seconds remaining in the game. That ill-advised foul by Bagatsing also sent Tiu landing on his back because of the collision.
The Blue Eagles tightened their screws on defense in the final quarter.
Tiu sank two more charities off a duty foul and Escueta added another free throw for the final count of the game.
The former Xavier School ace tallied a game-high 26 points with seven rebounds, enabling the Blue Eagles to share the early lead with the Far Eastern Tamaraws, the UE Warriors and the UP Maroons, who defeated the NU Bulldogs in the first game.
Rico Maierhofer, who showed flashes of brilliance during the game with his surprise outside sniping and daredevil hangtime drives that kept the game close, had the Archers still in the thick of things with his easy lay-up past a smaller Escueta, 73-74.
"The Kite" Rico Maierhofer played his A-game but the Archers just couldn't convert come crunchtime.
Casio's team-high 19 points were not indicative of the suffocating defense clamped on him by coach Norman Black, who alternated Escueta, Jai Reyes and Eric Salamat to check him in the fourth.
Salamat similarly dished out a stellar performance in the fourth quarter, surprising the crowd with his lightning quick first step to the hoop on three different occasions during the Eagles' uprising. He finished with 10 key markers.
Casio missed three successive attempts down the stretch, two of them from three-point country.
No thanks to Eric Salamat, here guarded by rookie Hyram Bagatsing, the Blue Eagles did not allow the Archers to pull away He also openly talked about his displeasure on the officials after having been assessed a technical foul prior to the beginning of the fourth period for violating the commissioner's orders, which netted Casio two gimme free throws for a 56-all deadlock.
"It's a good win for us. We wanted to get off to a good start. The earlier you get off that first victory, the better off you're going to be as far as confidence is concerned. Anytime we beat La Salle, it's always a big win, no matter at what stage of the tournament," said Eagles coach Norman Black.
"An official warned me that if I said another word I'll get a technical, and I couldn't understand it because I didn't say a word," said Black. "I didn't like the call at all."
Agent Zero Gilbert Arenas of the Washington Wizards inside the Green Archers' dugout before the game.
Coach Franz Pumaren, on the other hand, also had his fair share of objection. The Archers went behind 0-2 even before the opening tip-off as the La Salle coaching staff was collectively slapped with a technical for failing to bear their respective league-issued IDs around their necks, a new rule this year.
"I just couldn't understand all that fuss about the IDs," said Pumaren.
- Cesar Concio
THE SCORES:
Ateneo 79 - Tiu 26, Salamat 10, Al Hussaini 10, Buenafe 8, Nkemakolam 7, Baclao 7, Burke 4, Austria 3, Long 2, Salva 1, Escueta 1, Baldos 0, Reyes 0
DLSU 73 - Casio 19, Maierhofer 16, Mangahas 13, Webb 7, Villanueva 4, Bagatsing 4, Revilla 3, Walsham 2, Atkins 2, Barua 2, Ferdinand 1, Malabes 0
Quarterscores: 17-16; 35-40; 56-54, 79-73
GAME SIDELIGHTS
Boxing icon Manny Pacquiao made a surprise appearance courtesy of Smart Communications.
Agent Zero Gilbert Arenas also made his appearance at courtside courtesy of Adidas Philippines. Above, Arenas with US Ambassador Kennedy.
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GAME DISCUSSIONS
http://www.oneplanetgreen.net/orca/#topic/Ateneo-79-Ateneo-73.htm