Ateneo up 2-0, trashing UE
The title defenders from the Katipunan Area managed to hold off another strong contender down the stretch, as they have defeated the University of the East Red Warriors by a fifteen point margin, and that after trailing by as many as seventeen early on in the first half.
The Blue Eagles, I suppose, where a little bit overwhelmed by the starting line up and the chosen five by Coach Norman Black with Austria on court did not had any significant positive signs to show, that’s why the Jesuits began trailing very early on with outside snipes from Acuna and the fellow red Warriors. Or could it be that the UE squad was just a bit lucky early on?
After Ateneo very slow start, common to the weak performance they have showed in the first half against the favorites and hosts FEU Tamawars last Sunday, Ateneo slowly got into the game again, bit by bit, piece by piece, basket by basket, as UE continued struggling from beyond the arch missing triple as many shots that making them from the rainbow area in the third quarter, also the quarter when Rabeh started his MVP performance once again the spearhead the Lethal Atenean front line assassination. But he was not the only one in the quest to aid the Atenean to a 2-0 standings, but he was supported by Nico Salva, the Sophomore freshmen who seems to be the outbreak player for Ateneo this year, Buenafe at the other hand did not had much impact in this game unlike in the opening cracker where he nailed ten points.
The Blue Eagles slowly came back into the game after the big margin they’ve been trailing and where atop when the fourth quarter kicked of, thanks to a triple from Monfort and Austria that boosted the courage and confidence of the Ateneans down the stretch, while UE continued struggling and continued insisting to nail the bucket from the outside, which led to a 17-19 points in favor of Rabeh in contrast to the 17 shot by the whole UE team somewhere into the second half.
With this game sealed as an Ateneo de Manila University win, and the denial of the Far Eastern University on opening day, it is indeed looking good for Ateneo de Manila to sweep the contest, or at least the first half just like they’ve done in UAAP 71, but before we start talking about sweeps, there is still another strong contender waiting in line to beat Ateneo this Sunday, the University of Santo Tomas growling tigers, who alike Ateneo are up 2-0 in the UAAP 72 standings.
But the two wins of UST do not look as vital as the two from Ateneo, since they’ve faced NU and AdU, with the rest of the competitive crew yet to go, that’s the reason why Ateneo stands a big chance to get a 3-0 this Sunday. Aside from that, UST does not have any big man to really come and cover the reigning MVP and if they do not find an immediate remedy, beware of yet another MVP performance from UAAP 71 MVP himself on the upcoming Sunday Showdown.
Read MoreDirty Game + Stupefying Referees = FEU Wins
After beating off 5 contenders, Ateneo de Manila was in definite favor in winning todays encounter against the Far Eastern University; but had to take a tragic defeat by quite some score deficit. I would have accepted the defeat of the Manila Jesuits (Blue Eagles) if the opposition would have won the game fare and square. But seems like they did not, and are not worthy of winning at all; but hey, the game is done and this is just my personal criticism of the ball game a couple of hours ago. This post should have been published yesterday evening but I had no internet connection to send it online.
It’s a sad fact that this ball game was about to be the game of his life. I’m referring to the tall guy Rabah from the Blue and White Squad. An outstanding performance that kept the Blue Eagles going throughout the whole game until the 4th and critical quarter arrived. 33 points, 19 or was it 20 rebounds; an awesome performance and a huge improvement for him, isn’t it? But it really was the absence of Eric Salamat that left a big hole in Ateneo de Manila’s Offensive Play.
Where’s he gone by the way? He’s been missing action since the 2nd quarter (be so kind and correct me if I’m wrong since I wasn’t able to watch the hole game but the final quarter, the other details are just information that my ears caught). He disappeared, but it had a reason. Siniko siya! Yet none of the refereeing staff saw the incident. I know, they did that intentionally to knock him off court, and I’ve got my prove for that.
The Tamaraws just played their dirtiest game of the season, begging a victory over the favored Blue Eagles. A game which they, like I’ve said earlier are unworthy to take. A win that should not be theirs, but for the Blue Eagles. If it wasn’t for the dirty play and the bad refereeing which was in definite favor for the FEU Squad, Ateneo would have precisely stood up front leading the tale at 6-0 but no.
- A Player from FEU hit Chris Tiu with his shoulder in the face, definitely, intentionally, all that the referee gives is a simple personal foul which should be a unsportsmanlike foul.
- 4th Qtr, Buenafe tries to take away the ball of a FEU player and has been called for a foul, yet the elbow or shoulder of that player landed at his face.
- Austria had done nothing wrong, but has been called for a foul?
I don’t want to be too biased, for what I already am. But, really, Ateneo had it’s leaks too. Chris Tiu should not have taken the last “hope” of the ball game 3pointer, but should have given Ryan Buenafe a try. I know, he’s not a good shooter, but I believe in his talents and I totally like him. Although he had a awesome bad game today.
Baclao played so so today. Not his best, not his worst, but he did perform under average from what I usually expect from him, and so did Tiu played like a null. Including the turn overs conceived by Yuri Escueta, who had a very bad game as well. And, let’s not forget Austria who really doesn’t fits into the game for the last couple of minutes, someone else should have stepped up by that time. But hey, SALAMAT has been strategically knocked out of the game, the systematic play of the Tamaraws huh?
Gaah. Kevin is absent. I need to drop now. So that’s all that I’ll say. LOL
Read MoreLa Salle defeats FEU by 11 pts
The de La Salle University Green Archers finally take home their very first win of the season. Of two games being played, finally they managed to take the second as theirs, after the defeat they’ve suffered at the big dome last week against their arch-rivals Ateneo de Manila.
The game looked to be in favor for the green shirts this afternoon (FEU) but somehow, de La Salle took the lead starting the 3rd quarter and never really let go of it. Main contributor to their win was Jvee Casio with 29 points, 8 rebounds and 2 steals, most of his performance coming from the latter 2 quarters.
The lead has been widen since the last 20 seconds of the game, it was a real mess up for the Tamaraws, but anyways, both teams end up 1-1 after two games played.
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