Manila, Philippines - UAAP titlist Ateneo, drawing tremendous boost from prized new recruits Greg Slaughter and Kiefer Ravena, repulsed San Beda, 90-87, to set in motion its title bid in the Filoil Flying V Hanes Pre-Season Premier Cup at the Filoil Flying V Arena in San Juan yesterday.
The seven-foot Slaughter, a transferee from the University of Visayas, and Ravena, a promising talent out of Ateneo High, lived up to expectation in their initial game with Ateneo as they led the Eagles past the reigning NCAA champions Red Lions.
Santo Tomas whipped La Salle, 79-70, in the other game of the tourney presented by Mighty Bond Xtreme and Elastoseal and sponsored by Filoil, Flying V, Gerry’s Grill, BDO, Oxycan, Bayo and Molten.
Slaughter poured in 26 points including 10 from the foul line while Ravena, son of former PBA Rookie of the Year Bong, fired 25 in dazzling performances that awed almost everybody in the venue.
Ravena captivated everyone with an impressive 11-of-14 shooting that went with four assists including a crucial alley-oop which Slaughter slammed in.
“I think his game speaks for itself,” said an awed Ateneo mentor Norman Black. “That is the reason why we strongly recruited him at Ateneo.”
San Beda mentor Frankie Lim was as awed as Black.
“He’s a great, great player,” said Lim.
Nico Salva was a third Ateneo player who put in big output with 20 points.
Black, however, stressed they still need to work on many things and familiarize with one another.
“We’re still feeling our way around and it showed in this game against San Beda, which I feel is the best team here,” said Black.
Lim pointed to their poor 13-of-24 foul shooting as the cause of their defeat.
“We missed a lot of foul shots that could have turned things around for us. We can’t beat Ateneo with that kind of shooting,” said Lim.
Down with a double-digit deficit in the third, the Lions charged into contention on booming three-pointers by Garvo Lanete and Melo Lim.
Ravena and Slaughter, however, themselves fended off the San Beda rally as they combined for 13 of Ateneo’s last 16 points.
Baser Amer, who led the Red Cubs to last year’s NCAA juniors crown, had a jittery debut as a Lion, finishing with only four points.
Nigeran Ola Adeogun, an agile and ultra-athletic Nigerian, led the Lions with 30 points on 13-of-17 shooting. He also hauled down 13 boards and got two assists and two blocks.
Tempers ran high late in the third as San Beda’s Jake Pascual and Ateneo’s JP Erram got into each other’s nerves.
Pascual was thrown out of the game while Erram was slapped a flagrant foul.