Ateneo 78, De La Salle 70
-As preseason games have always been, this Fil-Oil game does not even reveal anything about the performance of both teams when the 76th Season of the UAAP comes. Clearly, the Blue Eagles are not even at their tournament form, having 5 or so players recovering from an injury (with big man Kris Porter unfortunately out for the season). And while DLSU have all the talent in their favor, playing with a "complete" roster sans playmaker L.A. Revilla, it's evident that they are far from being the perfect team that fans in green expected them to be. But this is a fair way of putting the talents of both teams against each other, considering that while the Green Archers have been stockpiling talents ever since the end of Season 75, the Blue Eagles, fresh from their fifth straight championship, start things again with a new coach and a relatively new team. This time, the Blue Eagles finally won against their rivals in the preseason tournament, after not having done so in the past four years (and managing to snag the UAAP championship later on... is there a coincidence? If so, what does this win tell?).
-Kiefer Ravena might just as well take the name "King Eagle" and own it for the next three years of his basketball career. With a quite scattered offense in a game where the blue eagles played open court offense, Ravena found his sweet spots, posted his defenders, and shoot deadly shake-and-bake fadeaway Js en route to 31 big points. And in a new team that needs its old members to step up and play big, he might just be the man that the Blue Eagles would need in the long season ahead. After all, it's about time for him to relive the Blue Eaglets days and carry the team on his back.
-Fifth year big man Frank Golla came out as a revelation in this game, as he was able to nail midrange jumper after midrange jumper, ending up with 14 big points on 7 of 9 field goal shooting. In the past four years of Golla's career with the Blue Eagles save for the 2010 season, he has played with talented bigs and has only ended up with a minor bench role. But now that the team needs someone big and tall to do the dirty job in the paint, the fifth year forward/center has stepped up and played smart basketball. He drew hard picks, rolled to the elbow, position on the top of the key, and nail easy jumpers. This came out quite late, but at least the Blue Eagles have someone other than Poy Erram to not only slug it out in the boards but also come out big on offense.
-This game also shows how the Green Archers are still "unprepared," despite the plethora of talent that they have. Having taller players, Coach Gee Abanilla could have set the offense up from the high and low post, but they opted to settle for kick outs and quick jumpers courtesy of gunner Almond Vosotros, because Jason Perkins, Arnold Van Opstal, and even Jeron Teng cannot (surprisingly) convert easy baskets from a small but quick Ateneo lineup. They also have turned the ball over several times, especially when trying to bring the ball down low, not to mention that a backcourt squad with considerable height advantage (think Robert Bolick) could not match up with Ateneo's small ball. And with their shots clanking in and out only to result in an easy Ateneo basket, it seems that it was a very unfortunate day for the Gang Green, and would need serious readjustments entering into the UAAP season.
-After this win against the Green Archers, the Blue Eagles have opted to pull out of the Fil-Oil Preseason Tournament, citing injuries as reasons for them to discontinue. And perhaps it is just fair for the Blue Eagles to do just that, considering that they already had a quick dose of what Season 76 will offer to them, including their training at the States. After all, the most important games would not come until the 29th of June, once the new season opens.
The Scores:
Ateneo 78 – Ravena 31, Tiongson 15, Golla 12, Asistio 6, Tolentino 5, Newsome 4, Elorde 3, Buenafe 2, Murphy 0, Lim 0
De La Salle 70 – Perkins 15, Vosotros 14, Teng 14, Torres 9, Van Opstal 9, Torres 7, Dela Paz 2, Bolick 0, Tampus 0, Salem 0
Quarter scoring: 24-15, 42-33, 63-51, 78-70
Credits to the Fil-Oil Flying V Facebook page for the photo and GMANetwork.com for the box.
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