The Blue Eagles went on a blistering pace from the opening bell and never looked back en route to a 23 point demolition of the Tamaraws.
By: Geoff Latayan
Tenacious speed in both offense and defense and unflappable championship experience became Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) Blue Eagles’ main weapon in disposing off Far Eastern University (FEU) Tamaraws, 72-49 to take game one of the Best of Three Finals showdown Sept. 25, Saturday at the Araneta Coliseum.
The Katipunan-based Blue Eagles used their blinding speed to the hilt as they ran the Morayta-based Tamaraws to the ground from the very start as they used scored 15 unanswered points to turn a three point lead to 24-6 opening salvo in the first quarter, thanks to fastbreaks and quick thinking.
The lead even went up to as high as 26 (47-21) in the third quarter as Kirk Long nailed a triple. When FEU tried to claw back cutting Ateneo’s lead to 18, 37-55, Ateneo’s experience in keeping the lead proved to be an insurmountable mountain to climb as Ateneo increased their lead to 25, 66-41 in the fourth quarter.
Long led the team with 14 points as five other players had at least eight points to show their balance, scoring-wise but rookie JP Erram proved to be the Blue Eagles’ surprise package this game.
Filling up for the shoes of rookie bigman Jumbo Escueta, who got suspended for accumulating two unsportsmanlike fouls all season long, Erram provided solid minutes in manning the shaded area for the Blue Eagles as he had five blocks, including two consecutive in the second quarter.
Aside from Erram, Justin Chua and Nico Salva provided frontcourt firepower for the Blue Eagles as they combined for 23 points. The backcourt of Emman Monfort and Eric Salamat provided solid playmaking and scoring minutes as they dictated the tempo of the game and scored timely baskets to keep the lead in harm’s way.
Also, Ateneo’s frontcourt stopped FEU’s big men from scoring at will as the Blue Eagles almost had every hand in intimidating and stopping the Tamaraws’ inside incursions. The quartet of Reil Cervantes, Pipo Noundou, Aldrech Ramos and Mark Bringas could only manage 21 points and seven field goals.
RR Garcia and Terrence Romeo combined for 21 points for the Tams but had a hard time against a tough ADMU backcourt defense all throughout.
Ateneo will try to close out the season on game two as FEU will try to eradicate the nightmare of game one as they face off again on Thursday, Sept. 30 at the Araneta Coliseum.
Before the game, excellent performers of the season will be honored as UAAP will have its achievement awards at 2:30 pm.
Five Keys
- Running them to the ground. Ateneo ran FEU to the ground as they broke the game wide open with fastbreaks. Ateneo whitewashed FEU 15-0 in fastbreak points, 13 of them in the fast and furious first half, where Ateneo built their lead and never looked back. Also, that 15-0 run in the first quarter busted the whole game wide open from a 9-6 lead to a 24-6 hole. That separation proved to be the backbreaker to FEU.
- Miles and miles of experience. The Blue Eagles used their championship experience in exposing the Tamaraws lack of it. The Blue Eagles had the championship composure as early as the first half as they hit shots at will, scoring from fast breaks, low post moves and jump shots, and found open men easily because of their patience and championship smarts.
- 6 with 8. Kirk Long 14, Justin Chua 13, Nico Salva 10, Emman Monfort 9, Eric/k (some spell it Eric, others Erik) Salamat 8 and (surprise surprise!) Raymond “Bacon” Austria 8. 62 points coming from six guys, this showed how FEU failed miserably on the defensive end. They even outscored the whole FEU team, who fielded in 13 players. Bench points were miles apart too as they outscored the Tamaraws, 32-12.
- Perimeter deactivation. In their two games against ADMU this season, FEU shot an incredible 44 percent from the perimeter but the Finals proved to be a different monster as FEU shot only 26.7 percent on 4/15 shooting. Credit this to Ateneo’s defense in the perimeter and the Tams’ perimeter inaccuracy.
- Hell on court. ADMU proved to be the number one team in defense all season long as they limited FEU to 49 points, the lowest championship game output since Season 61, where FEU was held to just 47 points by DLSU in Game 1. FEU could have tied this dubious record if not for Terrence Romeo’s two free throws in the closing seconds of the game.
