Kiefer Ravena of Ateneo drives past Simon Atkins of La Salle on his way to the basket. (Justin De Jesus/FCF)

Games Sunday (July 17, 2011)
Araneta Coliseum
1:00pm – State U vs. National U
3:00pm – Santo Tomas vs. East

GAME SUMMARY

FINAL
(0 – 2)		(2 – 0)
72 – 81
QUARTER SCORING			1	2	3	4
DE LA SALLE			16	14	19	23
ATENEO			23	18	21	19
STATISTICAL LEADERS
POINTS	DLSU	Revilla				22
	ADMU	Ravena				24
REBOUNDS	DLSU	Torres				6
	ADMU	Ravena				10
ASSISTS	DLSU	Revilla				3
	ADMU	Long				4
KEY STATS	DLSU			ADMU
FASTBREAK PTS.	6			15
REBOUNDS (OFF)	39 (17)			45 (13)
2nd CHANCE PTS	14			13

(UPDATE: July 16, 2011 – 8:32 PM) Behind a sterling performance from highly-touted rookie Kiefer Ravena, the Ateneo de Manila five nabbed their first UAAP meeting against bitter rival De La Salle University in an 81-72 decision on Saturday at the Araneta Coliseum.

The 6-foot guard from the high school ranks led the team in scoring with 24 points, a far cry from his lackluster debut game against Adamson. He also had 10 rebounds to complete his first double-double in the seniors ranks.

Blue Eagles coach Norman Black commended the former AHS standout on his performance in the first half, saying he deserved credit for the way he played and stepped up.

Veteran swingman Nico Salva scored 18 points while Eman Monfort and Kirk Long had 10 points apiece.

Six consecutive points by Ravena in the first quarter forced Green Archers coach Dindo Pumaren to call for a time out. Arnold Van Opstal stepped up for La Salle, countering that with 5 points of his own. A basket by Fil-Canadian Norbert Torres gave La salle it’s first lead.

There were a total of three deadlocks and six leadchanges in the game, all of which occured in the first quarter. The last lead La Salle held on to was a 3-point shot by Joseph Marata. A 9-point run sealed the deal for the Eagles, and they ran away with the lead.

Starting the second quarter with a shot by Ateneo center Justin Chua, La Salle countered with an 8-0 run, but two consecutive baskets by Ravena and a dunk by Greg Slaughter increased the lead to five. The half ended with a 41-30 score on favor of Ateneo.

By this juncture, Ravena already had 22 points, which was the most by any player since Dylan Ababou scored 23 in their game against National University on July 16, 2009.

Ateneo continued to dominate all throughout the third quarter. Free throw shooting was a noticeable improvement with the Archers, although ill-advised perimiter shots proved to be their downfall, as the Katipunan-based squad enjoyed their biggest lead of the game with 19 points.

But La Salle managed to outscore the Eagles at the last two minutes of the quarter with a 10-4 blitz, which was capped off by a buzzer beater by LA Revilla to peg the score at 49-62.

Both teams started to experience early foul trouble in the fourth quarter as the Green Archers seemed poised for a comeback and lagging behind by just 8 points with three minutes to go.

However, crtical fouls by the Taft five that resulted in two players fouling out (Simon Atkins and Revilla) ended the game on a sour note for the green side. As a result, Emman Monfort canned a total of six free throws within the last minute of play.

LA Revilla topped the scoreboard for La Salle with 22 points. Oda Tampus put up 10, while Torres, Luigi dela Paz and Joseph Marata all contributed 9 points. This is the Green Archers’ 10th loss in their last 13 meetings with the Blue Eagles in all of their meetings since 2007.

The last time that DLSU dropped their first two matches was in 2009, when they eventually missed the Final Four in Franz Pumaren’s last year as head coach. (With reports from Diego de la Paz)

BOX SCORE
ATENEO (81): Ravena 24, Salva 18, Monfort 10, Long 10, Slaughter 7, Golla 6, Tiongson 2, Gonzaga 2, Chua 2, Capacio 0, Sumalinog 0, Austria 0
DE LA SALLE (72): Revilla 22, Tampus 10, Torres 9, Dela Paz 9, Marata 9, Van Opstal 5, Villanueva 4, Mendoza 2, Atkins 2, Sara 0, Gotladera 0, Vosotros 0, Paredes 0, Webb 0
Quarters: 23-16, 41-30, 62-49, 81-72