Eagles thwart Archers in bruising duel

Reigning champion Ateneo showed its arch-rival La Salle it would never catch the Blue Eagles with their guard down a second time, repulsing rallies after rallies from the gutsy Green Archers to hack out a 74-68 victory yesterday before a wildly-cheering crowd at the Araneta Coliseum.

The stake was actually the second berth in the UAAP title playoff, but for 40 agonizing minutes, they slugged it out not so much for the championship but for prestige, pride and deep-seated loyalty to their respective schools.

Only such rivalry could bring in the throng and sadly it wouldn’t be there when the Eagles go for their second straight crown against the Far Eastern Tamaraws beginning tomorrow.

But despite the league’s vow to curb hooliganism and with emotions running high in a volative atmosphere, players of both sides confronted each other at the buzzer and pockets of violence erupted at the back of the Ateneo bench as Ateneo and La Salle fans mixed it up in an ugly postgame fracas.

Earlier, the two teams almost came to blows at the passageway leading to their respective dugouts during the break with bottles of mineral water being thrown and a shoving and shouting match ensuing between the two camps. This occurred despite the beefed-up security put up by the league in the aftermath of the tumultuous game last Thursday where the Archers pulled off a 76-72 overtime victory over their rivals to force the do-or-die match.

With Macky Escalona and Larry Fonacier stepping up, Ateneo hardly missed its suspended playmaker, LA Tenorio, as it drew on the experience of its battle-tested veterans to outlast the game but rookie-laden La Salle crew behind go-to guy Joseph Yeo.

Fonacier sizzled with 20 points, including eight in the fourth quarter while the rest backed him up with a resolute defense that took the starch out of the fighting Archers, particularly Yeo who ran into the tough defense of Wesley Gonzales.

Paolo Bugia likewise dished out a superb game and was at right place at the right time as he came through with 17 points, including an awkward shot-clock-beating triple in the last 5:41 and a crucial three-point play off a Magnum Membrere miss that helped thwart the rallying Archers.

"I’m speechless. But I’m glad this is over," Ateneo coach Joel Banal said.

The Eagles whooped it up at endgame like they’ve already won the championship but the hard-earned victory only set themselves up for a tougher job ahead — a best-of-three showdown with a well-rested Far Eastern U side.

The post-game scuffle broke out at the back of the Ateneo bench after Gonzales engaged La Salle’s Jerwin Gaco and Yeo in a verbal tussle at the midcourt. Seen in the melee were La Salle alumni and former Ateneo cagers, among them Andrew Cruz, Sonny Tadeo, Rainier Sison, Chris Quimpo, Jeck Chia and Enrico Villanueva with Rafa Dinglasan, an ex-La Salle cager, rushing from the court into the Ateneo bench.

Gonzales went scoreless in a game he was expected to dish out big numbers but the talented swingman made up for his offensive slack by shackling Yeo, who played almost without relief and consequently lost steam while trying to rally the Archers down the stretch. He finished with 26 points in 33 minutes of action.

Ateneo used its height advantage to the hilt by dominating the boards although the Eagles needed one quarter to shrug off the scrappy bunch of Archers who rallied from eight points down midway in the first to force a 21-all count at the end of the period.

But the Taft-based cagers failed to catch up with the Eagles towards the end of the second quarter with the troika of Fonacier, Bugia and Richie Alvarez taking turns in pumping in baskets and the rest shackling the Archers with their airtight defense.

Escalona, who averaged two points heading into the do-or-die match, tossed in 12 points as he orchestrated the team’s offense majority of the way.