MANILA, Philippines – The relative inexperience of the young Ateneo team in the pressure-packed playoffs proved to be its undoing as it failed to capitalize on its win-once advantage and finish off defending champion Far Eastern in their UAAP LXXIX Final Four showdown.
The Blue Eagles squandered a 10-point lead and couldn’t stop Raymar Jose and the Tams from posting a 62-61 win that forced a KO match for the right to face top seed La Salle in the championship series.
“We didn’t play with the sort of composure and experience that we thought we’ve developed during the course of the season,” said Ateneo coach Tab Baldwin, whose junior, sophomore and rookie-laden team surprised everyone by landing No. 2 at the end of the elims.
“It got away from us in the fourth quarter and we paid the price so we have to make sure that won’t happen again,” said Baldwin.
Stats showed FEU beating AdMU in the last 10 minutes, 27-19. Jose (20 points and 23 rebounds) even outrebounded the entire AdMU gang, 11-8, and accounted for seven markers in the final push. He got help from Monbert Arong who fired nine of his 13 in the endgame.
“They took the fourth quarter away from us. They played good FEU basketball. They were aggressive on the offensive boards and kept attacking the rim. They shot 17 freethrows and had offensive rebounds. That’s FEU basketball,” said Baldwin.
Eagles star Thirdy Ravena stressed they remain positive they can get the job done on Wednesday against an FEU team determined to keep its title-retention quest going.
“It’s not done yet. It’s just the half. We can’t come out in the dugout of the half hanging our heads so it’s another half on Wednesday,” said Ravena.