By Mere Inches: Ateneo vs. UST (UAAP S74 Final Four Special Recap)

Ateneo 69, UST 66
Blue Eagles clinch Finals spot

Unlike last season, the Blue Eagles' down-the-wire games were really few. The first game against the Adamson Soaring Falcons was one (ending the game with a 55-51 card). After that, all the Blue Eagles' wins were blowouts, with most of them having the fourth quarter as mere formalities that will settle the final score and allow the opponent to at least catch up.

But then, there was the near-shocker against FEU during the start of the second round. Thanks to Kiefer Ravena, the Blue Eagles still held a perfect record after turning a 16-point deficit in the first half to a 6-point overtime win. The Red Warriors, one of the lowly teams of this season, put the Blue Eagles' standings at the line, but Emman Monfort silenced the reds with his free throws. Everyone wished that the battle against the Adamson Soaring Falcons would go the same, but time (and shooting and defense and everything else) ran out for the Blue Eagles, instead losing in double digits.

Nowhere in the previous paragraph did the UST Growling Tigers got mentioned, who were defeated by the Blue Eagles twice during the eliminations. Their first meeting was close up until the middle of the third quarter, when the Ateneo first five pushed the gas pedal and went all the way to a 13-point win. It was even better in the second round, when the Blue Eagles were excellent on both ends of the floor, and the bench even stopped the UST first five from even getting close in the final canto.

Having those wins against the Growling Tigers, this semi-final match should be a walk in the park, a mere formality to enter the Finals, right?

Wrong. After the defeat against the Blue Eagles in the second round, Coach Pido Jarencio made the necessary adjustments to win the next four games, only to lose to the National University Bulldogs in their final game (due to Karim Abdul's suspension and Carmelo Afuang's operation) which brought them to the fourth seed. In this semifinal game, the Growling Tigers have shown that the Blue Eagles would have to work hard, harder than their elimination round efforts, to punch their ticket to the Finals.

In the first half, crowds of the blue and the yellow show a shuffling between two teams. Leads were switching early on, and the Blue Eagles first five could not cool down the Tigers, especially Karim Abdul. Fortunately, the efforts of the Ateneo bench on both sides of the court, especially Tonino Gonzaga and Juami Tiongson, gave the Blue Eagles some breathing room, before the starters went back out and extended the lead to 8 by the half.

Cruise control was the theme of the third quarter, as an offensive surge led by Nico Salva extended the lead to fourteen. But then, a bad bench effort during the dying minutes and an offensive surge led by Chris Camus and Jeric Teng led to a critical situation for the Blue Eagles. Fortunately, time was on their side, as Nico Salva sunk his two free throws to keep the lead at thee after a Jeric Teng trey brought UST as close as one point from forcing a second do-or-die game. When the final buzzer sounded, there was no trace of premature celebration either from the team or from the crowd, for everyone knows that there is still a lot to work on, and the blue crowd could only thank the Growling Tigers for giving the Blue Eagles one hell of a game that shows that they are mortals, far from basketball gods who can make their way to a fourth straight crown and carve their destiny without looking at mistakes and keeping their focus in the game.

Perimeter offense and defense. Making the right passes and plays. Keeping the enemy at bay. These are some of the things that the Blue eagles will have to redraw and reprogram. Greg Slaughter and Kiefer Ravena have done so much, but the rest will have to exert the same effort and produce the same results as they do. To put it short, it's time for them to bring back the hundred and ten percent that brought them to a 13-1 record. Consider themselves having their backs on the wall even though they don't, because as we all know the Falcons and the Tamaraws are hungry for the crown, as hungry as the Blue Eagles were during these past four years.

And for the Blue Eagles' Sixth Men and Women? It's time for them to get serious. Of course, they would want a semifinal blowout like the past championship years, but they would rather have this win than have another semifinal game. After all, there is a time to feel that, and it's certainly not in the semifinals, but during the final two (or three) matches that really matter.

The scores:

Ateneo 69 – Slaughter 17, Ravena 13, Salva 12, Chua 9, Tiongson 5, Gonzaga 5, Monfort 4, Long 4, Golla 0, Austria 0

UST 66 – Abdul 16, Camus 13, Teng 11, Ferrer 10, Fortuna 8, Afuang 5, Tan 3, Sheriff 0, Pe 0, Lo 0, Ungria 0

Quarter scoring: 18-18, 38-30, 52-40, 60-66

Credits to inboundpass.com for the box and Fabilioh.com for the pic.

6 Points: AdMU vs. UST (Round 2)

Ateneo 82, UST 57

-The Blue Eagles were comfortably sitting atop a 30-point lead after one of those many scoring runs initiated by Kiefer Ravena and Nico Salva in the third quarter. In fact, the final canto was garbage time for the boys in blue, with the third stringers even giving the Tigers a hard time trimming the margin and losing in an honorable fashion. Now we see a balance of a clicking offense and stifling defense, and if the team plays like this in every game, then a perfect season is highly possible.

-While Ravena led the blitzkrieg with a barrage of steals and easy lay ups, the spotlight for this afternoon belongs to Salva, who seized the opportunity to sink his long jumpers after bread-and-butter plays set by the guards. But more than that, he also made it a point to drive when possible, earning two and-ones (one of them over Chris Camus) and finishing with 20 points.

-For the Blue Eagles, it doesn't matter if the bench did not score much. What is important is the way they kept the game in favor of the team. The main course that they deliver is basically their defensive efforts. But then, we Justin Chua woke up from his scoring slumber, getting in 18 big points, not only from the line but also from post ups. Again, if we see this version of the Panda, then big men all around the league have to worry at Ateneo's post game. (Too bad, Mark Tallo, you could have been the one in place of Bon Jovi Cipriano, who scored 3 points in the final canto)

-Could anyone have noticed that only Jeric Teng, Karim Abdul, and Melo Afuang have scored in double digits? And Jeric Fortuna only had a fifth of his shots going in, the "greatest point guard in Season 74" having 7 markers in total. This is what team defense does to teams who take their chances on the outside. Perhaps it's time for UST to get the guys to pound the ball inside more and shoot threes less, especially now that they do not have sniper Clark Bautista.

-There's something iffy about the way referees decide on whether to call a foul or not when Jeric Teng handles the ball. It seems that there should be calls he should be getting, but were not whistled anyway. It might be good to review those as a response to what the refs have been doing lately (stop it haters, for if the refs were cooking it up, it would not be necessary to do so since Ateneo was in cruise control all through out). And to add more to Teng, why does he have to get that huge bulk of playing time? Does it have anything to do with a comment on Inboundpass? Hopefully not.

-Kevin Ferrer was a disappointment. After a hard shove on Ravena, he had the guts to exchange words and gestures with Von Pessumal. Everybody knows that Season 73 is over and the Eaglets have won the championship, so such expressions of bitterness and past adversity, if these actions were, should be gone by now. But a more important question: would the time come for Coach Pido Jarencio to use him well? Or will there be a new coach for the Growling Tigers?

The Scores:

Ateneo 82 – Salva 20, Chua 18, Ravena 14, Monfort 8, Long 7, Slaughter 6, Cipriano 3, Gonzaga 3, Sumalinog 2, Erram 1, Pessumal 0, Capacio 0, Estrada 0, Tiongson 0, Golla 0, Austria 0

UST 57 – Teng 20, Abdul 12, Afuang 10, Fortuna 7, Ferrer 4, Vigil 2, Lo 2, Tan 0, Sheriff 0, Pe 0, Ungria 0, Camus 0

Quarter scoring: 15-6, 40-22, 68-37, 82-57

Postscript

It was actually very surprising that the De La Salle Green Archers, a Final Four contender, would lose to UE. What really happened? Nothing much, like the usual things that they do, which include chucking up shots, making bad passes, missing easy lay ups as well as those free throws.

One significant observation today was the way UE broke the vaunted La Salle press and got easy fastbreak scores. There were various possessions were their touch passing allowed them to quickly move the ball across, leaving only two guys in green and white on their side of the court, allowing those running Red Warriors to get an easy lay up. Deep down, we know that there is something wrong with the execution of the press.

This is a big question the De La Salle system should face right now. Inarguably, DLSU has good players, and it's just that the offensive and (most importantly) the defensive sets won't work well with them. This team is not like the four-peat team and its immediate subsequent teams who knows the players' roles on- and off-the-ball in offense, as well as knowledge of the full court press. This bunch of kids today do not even get close to Cardona, or Casio, Sta. Maria, Ritualo, or any of those elite players in the Golden Age of Green Archers basketball. If they need to win games, they have to play the game their way, and Coach Dindo Pumaren should know how to adjust and meld them together.

If the current DLSU system does not work, then there should be changes in their team, which could include:

• Dishing the full court press, since teams already know how to break it, and the present Green Archers don't know how to fully execute it. Better yet, come up with a defensive system that plays on the strengths of the players. Almond Vosotros knows this because he fits in the system, but his teammates do not.

• Revamping the whole team and get those guys who can deliver. DLSU has been getting the big names of the junior ranks without considering how to make them fit. Ateneo Coach Norman Black believes that the players have to buy into the program, and he even asks that they become familiar with more than forty plays and figure out where they would fit in which play. Coach Dindo, have you thought of doing that?

• Or the simplest and easiest way out: replacing Dindo Pumaren. Need to prove himself for one more year? UAAP fans, you be the judge.

Credits to Inboundpass for the box and Fabilioh for the pic.