July 10, 2005
LA SALLE 78, ATENEO 60
Quezon City – It was worth all the drama and hype leading up to game day as the De La Salle University Green Archers began defense of its UAAP Men’s Basketball crown Sunday (July 10) on a high note by plastering bitter archrival Ateneo de Manila Blue Eagles, 78-60, before another SRO crowd at the Araneta Coliseum.
The game caught many observers by surprise as Ateneo was installed as the pre-game favorite due to their height and experience advantage plus they had a new multi-titled veteran coach at the helm. To complete their preparations, the Eagles went to the United States to attend basketball camps. The vertically challenged Archers showed that height is not always might in basketball and turned to its patented pesky defense, smooth running game and sizzling outside shooting to pull off the trick. With an estimated 7,000 green shirt-wearing fans shouting their lungs out and the La Salle Pep Squad in a concerted effort to outdo the other 7,000 members of the audience, the Archers made sure that their fanatics’ efforts would be handsomely rewarded.
Archers coach Franz Pumaren achieved milestone by notching his 100th win as a UAAP coach and he did it against no less than the man known in local basketball circles as “Mr. 100 Percent”, Norman Black, who was making his debut as a collegiate coach after nearly two decades in the professional league. “I feel like it was only yesterday that I started to coach the Archers,” said Coach Pumaren in describing how the win compared to his 99 others achieved since 1998, making him the longest tenured among the eight current coaches. “It’s a big difference coaching in college and in the pros,” added Coach Pumaren, “we were just lucky that we caught them flatfooted and continued to play aggressive.”
Joseph Casio came off the bench and sank a triple that shattered a 9-9 deadlock and the Archers never looked back. The only other time the scored was tied was at 2-2 and the Blue Eagles never tasted the lead throughout the whole contest. Drawing more punch from the reserves, Ryan Arana and Pocholo Villanueva hit two more field goals to give the Archers the first period, 20-11. But as both sides headed to their benches, the referees awarded two free due to a phantom Archer foul at the buzzer that were converted by Macky Escalona, 13-20.
Continuing from where they left off, Casio and Arana bombarded the Eagles with four triples as part of a 16-0 blast to begin the second period, 36-13. A field goal by LA Tenorio at the five-minute mark broke the run but the Archers were merciless with Tyrone Tang and Jun Cabatu keying a 14-5 windup as the Archers’ advantage ballooned to 30 markers at the half, 50-20.
Joseph Yeo scored a basket to open second half hostilities and establish the Archers’ biggest lead of the game, 52-30. Tenorio and JC Intal tried their best to enliven their teammates and the pro-Eagles fans with good plays but Cabatu managed to convert timely hits to prevent the Eagles from inching any closer. Still, the Eagles trimmed the deficit thanks to a slew of fouls assessed to the Archers towards the end of the third period resulting in free throws with the Eagles converting eight out of 11. Ironically, the Eagles managed to escape with no fouls during that key stretch.
Yeo and Villanueva then combined for the Archers first nine points to begin the final period to push the Archers on top by 26 with three minutes to play, 76-48. Entering the final two minutes and the outcome long decided, Coach Pumaren decided to give rookies Lionel Rivera and Kish Co some playing time. “You will see more of the rookies as the season goes by,” explained Coach Pumaren. “It’s part of the breaking-in process.” Rookies James Mangahas and PJ Barua were the only Archers that failed to get playing time.
Cabatu paced the Archers with 15 points and seven rebounds in 34 minutes of action followed by Casio with 14. Yeo chipped in 10. Tenorio led the Eagles with 14 points while Magnum Membrere added 10 as only two Eagles submitted twin digits.
So effective was the Archers’ pressure defense that it resulted in 26 Eagle turnovers that were promptly converted into 35 easy Archer points. The Archers also put up more shots (75 versus 58) with a better shooting percentage (0.440 versus 0.362) to neutralize the taller Eagles domination of the rebounds (38 to 47). Finally, the Archers played more as a team as shown by their edge in the assists department, 18-8. One area that the Archers have to work on is free throw shooting, making only four out of 12 attempts.
Meanwhile, the De La Salle-Zobel Junior Archers set the tone for the day by waylaying the Ateneo High School Blue Eaglets in Juniors Division action, 75-71. Miguel de Asis and David Urra led Zobel with 16 markers each while David Webb followed with 15. Simon Atkins barely missed a triple-double with nine points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. Dan Salvador also had a great game with eight points and 11 rebounds.
Up next for the Archers will be the unpredictable University of the Philippines Maroons on Thursday (July 14) at the Blue Eagle Gym along Katipunan Avenue starting at 4:00PM. Zobel faces UP Integrated School ea rlier that day at 12:00PM. The Maroons are coming off a 69-66 squeaker of a win over Santo Tomas on opening day and will parade three former Archers in Mika Vainio, Michael Gavino and Team B member Michael Padolina in a most intriguing match-up. - Anthony Servinio
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
La Salle teams overpower Ateneo 'Greats'
Last Saturday, I went to Araneta Coliseum to watch 2 ballgames. It has been 3 years since my last visit there. You see, I have always been in Japan during the UAAP season since then. I miss watching the games live, and inhaling all the energy. It wouldn't be right if I don't write about it in MY blog. After all, it's the green and white story of things.
We were there before 1pm, 5 of us. As soon as we got in, we went off and found good seats. We were at Upper A, not too near the court yet not too far. The drums were rumbling then. "It's good to be back," I told Y.
That day was a reunion of sorts. La Salle and Ateneo basketball greats fight each other for old times' sake. The first game were members of teams from the '60s to the late '80s. Some notable La Sallians in the Legends game include the deadly shooter Lim Eng Beng, Franz Pumaren who led us to 5 titles in 7 years, Jong and Joel Uichico, Tonichi Yturri, Boy Manguerra, and others to be coached Virgil Villavicencio (of Triple V fame). I never saw them play as La Sallians before, as I only entered the hallowed halls in 1991. But boy were they something! Sure they were slower, the bellies a little bigger, but they never showed signs of bowing to the blue side. Even if bragging rights were the only trophy, these team didn't show any signs of letting up. After the first period, it was 17-10 La Salle. Ateneo tried to fight hard, with the likes of Jojo Lastimosa, Nonoy Chuatico and Steve Watson combining to give them a 54-52 lead at the start of the 4th. But that's the best they could muster. La Salle dropped a 9-0 bomb to take the lead for good, never looking back. The game ended at 79-70 for La Salle, everything settled at the last-2-minute mark 'cept for the final score. Even with the blue babble battalion shouting at full blast, the green gallery were undaunted. I think we even outshouted them, if that's even a word.
Sidebar: I especially liked the cheers done by both pep squads during timeouts. It had a certain thing about them that I find missing when we're facing a different squad. As much as Ateneo and La Salle are rivals, we are one in traditions. When other schools are fielding cheerdancers who don't even shout cheers to begin with, we both bring out something that both students and alumni know - that spirit of support - that somehow, your strength is transferred to the team. Like the crowd is the 6th player on the court. That's why all Ateneo-La Salle games are sold-out, everybody just wants to participate. It's a bore just to watch a game, di ba? You'd rather PLAY the game! With all the Rektikanos and Blue Eagle spellings for that game, it's ok if I don't get to watch the game live this July 10. Malabo na, coz tickets were already sold out since this morning!
Anyhoo, going back... I was able to relate more to the All-Stars game. It featured players I knew, kasi kapanahunan ko na, hehe. From Dindo Pumaren, Raffy Dinglasan, Dicky Bachmann, Dwight Lago, to Dino Aldeguer, Mon Jose, Alvin Magpantay - gumawa lahat to defeat Ateneo again, 83-72. I knew the game was ours after the first quarter, with the score at 25-8. Yup, that's only 8 for the team from Katipunan.
But we were given the shock of a lifetime when the blue squad scattered points behind the almost buwakaw plays of Vince Hizon, once a good player from Ginebra, to come within 4, 56-52 at the start of the fourth. But like in the first game, that was all they could muster. Pumaren, Lago and Tyrone Bautista combined 14 unanswered points to break away. Hizon and Epok Quimpo (he's an All-Star?!) tried to keep the heads of the blue boys above water, but it was all for naught. The Green Archers triumphed again, this time at 83-72. My voice was pretty much raspy at this point as I couldn't stop cheering for the life of me. I had so much fun! I will definitely, definitely do this again!
(Marj and Regie might watch with us during the La Salle-UST game. I bet that will be even more fun, with all the asarans pa!)
Postscript: As expected from true-blue sore losers, I couldn't find any topic from Atenean.net about the Ultimate Showdown. Are they just braggarts when they're winning? If it were the other way around, the blue win would be all over the Pinoy exchange forums, plus invasions in peyups.com and greenarcher.net. Why are they all mum now?
We were there before 1pm, 5 of us. As soon as we got in, we went off and found good seats. We were at Upper A, not too near the court yet not too far. The drums were rumbling then. "It's good to be back," I told Y.
That day was a reunion of sorts. La Salle and Ateneo basketball greats fight each other for old times' sake. The first game were members of teams from the '60s to the late '80s. Some notable La Sallians in the Legends game include the deadly shooter Lim Eng Beng, Franz Pumaren who led us to 5 titles in 7 years, Jong and Joel Uichico, Tonichi Yturri, Boy Manguerra, and others to be coached Virgil Villavicencio (of Triple V fame). I never saw them play as La Sallians before, as I only entered the hallowed halls in 1991. But boy were they something! Sure they were slower, the bellies a little bigger, but they never showed signs of bowing to the blue side. Even if bragging rights were the only trophy, these team didn't show any signs of letting up. After the first period, it was 17-10 La Salle. Ateneo tried to fight hard, with the likes of Jojo Lastimosa, Nonoy Chuatico and Steve Watson combining to give them a 54-52 lead at the start of the 4th. But that's the best they could muster. La Salle dropped a 9-0 bomb to take the lead for good, never looking back. The game ended at 79-70 for La Salle, everything settled at the last-2-minute mark 'cept for the final score. Even with the blue babble battalion shouting at full blast, the green gallery were undaunted. I think we even outshouted them, if that's even a word.
Sidebar: I especially liked the cheers done by both pep squads during timeouts. It had a certain thing about them that I find missing when we're facing a different squad. As much as Ateneo and La Salle are rivals, we are one in traditions. When other schools are fielding cheerdancers who don't even shout cheers to begin with, we both bring out something that both students and alumni know - that spirit of support - that somehow, your strength is transferred to the team. Like the crowd is the 6th player on the court. That's why all Ateneo-La Salle games are sold-out, everybody just wants to participate. It's a bore just to watch a game, di ba? You'd rather PLAY the game! With all the Rektikanos and Blue Eagle spellings for that game, it's ok if I don't get to watch the game live this July 10. Malabo na, coz tickets were already sold out since this morning!
Anyhoo, going back... I was able to relate more to the All-Stars game. It featured players I knew, kasi kapanahunan ko na, hehe. From Dindo Pumaren, Raffy Dinglasan, Dicky Bachmann, Dwight Lago, to Dino Aldeguer, Mon Jose, Alvin Magpantay - gumawa lahat to defeat Ateneo again, 83-72. I knew the game was ours after the first quarter, with the score at 25-8. Yup, that's only 8 for the team from Katipunan.
But we were given the shock of a lifetime when the blue squad scattered points behind the almost buwakaw plays of Vince Hizon, once a good player from Ginebra, to come within 4, 56-52 at the start of the fourth. But like in the first game, that was all they could muster. Pumaren, Lago and Tyrone Bautista combined 14 unanswered points to break away. Hizon and Epok Quimpo (he's an All-Star?!) tried to keep the heads of the blue boys above water, but it was all for naught. The Green Archers triumphed again, this time at 83-72. My voice was pretty much raspy at this point as I couldn't stop cheering for the life of me. I had so much fun! I will definitely, definitely do this again!
(Marj and Regie might watch with us during the La Salle-UST game. I bet that will be even more fun, with all the asarans pa!)
Postscript: As expected from true-blue sore losers, I couldn't find any topic from Atenean.net about the Ultimate Showdown. Are they just braggarts when they're winning? If it were the other way around, the blue win would be all over the Pinoy exchange forums, plus invasions in peyups.com and greenarcher.net. Why are they all mum now?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)