Eagles, Archers split series

The Blues and the Greens had something to cheer about last weekend. Ateneo beat La Salle, 78-70, in the Filoil Flying V senior men’s basketball tournament at the San Juan Arena last Saturday and the Archers downed the Eagles, 111-108, in a PBA “alumni” game at the MOA Arena the next day. So both sides wound up winner and loser, making their two-game series a draw.

The Filoil encounter was dramatic. Ateneo showed up with only 10 able-bodied players as Chris Porter, G-Boy Babilonia, Gwinn Capacio, Von Pessumal and J. P. Erram nursed a variety of injuries. The Eagles just arrived from training camp in the US and there was talk before the game that Ateneo would withdraw from the tournament after engaging the Archers.

La Salle was eager to get back at Ateneo for showing the Archers the door in the UAAP Final Four last season. The Eagles enjoyed a twice-to-beat edge over La Salle and needed just one win to advance to the Finals. The Archers came close to forcing a winner-take-all Game 2 and lost a 66-63 decision, punctuated by a Ryan Buenafe triple down the stretch. La Salle was paced by forward Yutien Andrada with 17 points on 7-of-8 field goals and 3-of-4 free throws, six rebounds and three blocked shots. 

Last Saturday’s encounter was the first La Salle-Ateneo meeting since their Final Four battle. Andrada, the big thorn on Ateneo’s side in the previous face-off, was not in the La Salle lineup. Three weeks before, he suffered an ACL tear in his right knee and underwent repair surgery. It’s the second ACL tear in the same knee and orthopaedic surgeon Dr. George Canlas said the recuperative process may take longer than usual because of the repeat procedure. Andrada, 22, will play out his UAAP eligibility next year.

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Despite a depleted cast, new Ateneo coach Bo Perasol did a super job keeping the Eagles flying and the Archers at bay. Six players logged at least 22 minutes each with Kiefer Ravena clocking 34 and Chris Newsome 31. Only Anton Asistio, Earl Murphy and Isaac Lim played less than 10 minutes apiece. Ateneo executed with precision on both ends, its defense baiting the Archers to go where the Eagles waited in ambush and in offense clearing the side for Ravena. Perasol invited La Salle’s bigs to post up then threw a blanket defense to limit their offensive options with the idea to keep the ball out of Jeron Teng’s hands and away from the Archers’ long-range shooters. La Salle’s ball movement was severely curtailed because of the ploy and in the end, the Archers registered only nine assists to Ateneo’s 19. It also resulted in Ateneo hitting at a higher clip from the field, 49 percent to 35 percent.

La Salle coach Gee Abanilla had no antidote to stop Ravena who erupted for 31 points on 13-of-22 field goals and 5-of-6 free throws. It was like shooting practice for Ravena who made mincemeat of La Salle’s defense. Playing point guard, Ravena posted up smaller defenders Thomas Torres or Robert Bolick and easily spun away for floaters down the baseline or turned around for fadeaways. Worse, Juami Tiongson and Frank Golla got away with a combined 27 points because the Archers were often a step slow in closing out.

La Salle’s Fil-Am rookie Jason Perkins carried the load for the Archers with 15 points and 14 rebounds as his family watched from the sidelines. His Filipina mother Jennifer, American stepfather Fred Boddie and older brother Herb flew in to cheer the freshman on. Teng was scoreless in the first half but finished with 14 in a late surge that trimmed what was once a 20-point deficit to five.

Abanilla said the team is still a work in progress. “There’s no doubt we have tremendous individual talent but the challenge is getting everyone to work together as a team,” said Abanilla whose assistants are Juno Sauler, Jun Limpot and Allan Caidic. Perasol had to be pleased with the Eagles’ collective effort. “We just played extraordinarily well,” he said. “La Salle will definitely be a force to reckon with this season.” After the contest, Ateneo sports director Ricky Palou confirmed the school’s withdrawal from the tournament because of health issues.

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The next day, it was La Salle’s turn to celebrate. Coach Franz Pumaren piloted the Archers to a thrilling victory that was settled only in the final minute. Don Allado nailed a baseline jumper from a driving kick by Mike Cortez to break a 108-all deadlock with 40.4 seconds left. MacMac Cardona sank a foul shot to close out the scoring. Cardona took Best Player honors with 29 points. Ryan Arana netted 21, Carlo Sharma 14 and Allado 11 in a balanced attack for La Salle. Chris Tiu led the Eagles with 29 while Rabeh Al-Hussaini contributed 26, Wesley Gonzales 13 and Magnum Membrere 10. 

Archers point guard Jvee Casio, still healing from the banging in the last PBA Commissioner’s Cup, played only in the last 3.9 seconds in a cameo appearance. Ateneo coach Norman Black missed the services of L. A. Tenorio, Larry Fonacier and Japeth Aguilar.

“I watched us lose to Ateneo on TV the day before and felt really bad about it,” said Allado, a two-time UAAP MVP now with Barako Bull in the PBA. “Keifer got away with multiple counts of murder. So we wanted to vindicate the La Salle community. We went out there to play our hearts out for our school and the fans who came out to watch.”