As I arrived in the Araneta Coliseum, I was welcomed by the reverberating drumbeats, roaring school cheers, and a myriad of people wearing either blue or green. Indeed, this is it! The much-anticipated Ateneo-LaSalle match-up is taking its course and with stronger players in both rosters the audience is reminded that definitely anything can happen in this ballgame.
The Blue Eagles may have the advantage from its three-peat championship experience and dauntless rookies in the likes of Greg Slaughter and Kiefer Ravena but of course La Salle didn’t enter the battlefield unprepared and brought LA Revilla and two towering players namely Arnold Van Opstal and Norbert Torres to their defense. Such guarantees only one thing: to keep everyone on its feet.
More so, as much faith I have to the Ateneo squad, I can’t deny the fact that they struggled in their first game against Adamson, and to add insult to injury, the most sought-after rookie Kiefer Ravena came off from a scoreless debut.
At the sound of the buzzer and the start of the game clock, the crowd intensified, the players were pumped-up, the coaches had their gameface on, and I was ready for another spectacular showdown of our country’s fiercest rivalry.
Kiefer Ravena drew first blood as he penetrated through La Salle’s defense with his strong inside basket. As he went on a 6 to nothing run against La Salle, everyone can tell, that this game is all about redemption, and Ravena didn’t take any easy route in redeeming himself, as he made difficult baskets left and right, contributing 24 points for the Blue Eagles. I was also amazed by how athletic and witty this kid is; he was running into offense and immediately anticipated a foul so he released the ball at the three point line (at first I thought it was a stupid airball haha!) and received three charities, some amazing stuff from a rookie right? IKR.
Greg Slaughter, though he didn’t score much, made sure that his 7”0 ft. tall presence is felt with a slamma jamma that pumped up the whole Ateneo crowd! And he also put remarkable defensive stops with his “on-your-face-blocks” against La Salle.
Kirk Long (yes, since he’s my favorite player he’ll always have a place in my blog/heart) played like the co-captain that he is and scored 10 points in the game. Though he may not have executed from the 3point-arc, his aggressive defense disabled LaSalle specifically Simon Atkins from attacking into the basket. Can I just say, throughout the game Atkins’ frustration and desperation have been so evident, well I can’t blame him, whenever Kirk enters the game he loses his spotlight. HAHA! At the end, Atkins was fouled out courtesy of Kirk Long.
Nico Salva proved that he is serious in attacking from the outside with his sharp baskets not limited to the paint and a crucial 3point shot that was badly needed by the team. He made the pivotal three-pointer that put back the morale of the Blue Eagles and showed that not even poor officiating can put a good team down.
Spare me a minute or two to rant; this game had the most bogus officiating in the history of UAAP! Words won’t even suffice to describe how ridiculous it was, well actually I’m just referring to one in particular: that bald referee! He called a backing violation against Tiongson even though Juami’s body didn’t even cross half-court, He called a foul against an Ateneo player who was standing right in front of another referee who didn’t seem to find any violation, and he called a foul against Kiefer which was not evident in the replay! Such officials shouldn’t be allowed in the game because it undermines the credibility of the sport.
At the end, Emman Monfort’s 6 of 6 free throws sealed the game for the Loyola squad, and in the dying seconds of the game Coach Norman Black called a timeout. I was pretty surprised because clearly LaSalle can no longer catch up from the 9-point lead and he even sent Kiefer Ravena back into the game so I was a bit confused with what Coach Norman is trying pull off. As the ball came to play, Monfort was dribbling rigorously, and all the Blue Eagles went to one side of the court showing that they’re not planning to attack and add insult to injury; the Blue Eagles showed character and gained respect from everyone in the coliseum, even from the La Salle crowd.
Indeed, championships are not won by skills nor hard work alone, character is also as important if not more.
On Thursday, the Blue Eagles will be facing the NU Bulldogs at 1PM in Araneta. I’m excited to see what the fuzz on Bobby Ray Parks is all about!
As for now I shall indulge in this victory and contemplate on the fact that: kay sarap talagang maging Atenista! ONEBIGFIGHT!
