Ateneo Blue Eagles collar Bulldogs by 24

What everyone expected to become an individual battle between two of this season’s most talked about rookies turned into a showcase of one team’s strength as a cohesive unit on both ends of the floor. The Ateneo Blue Eagles dominated the National University Bulldogs, 86-62, at the Araneta Coliseum Thursday afternoon.

NU recruit Bobby Ray Parks finished with a game-high 20 points but it would not be enough to suppress a solid collaborative effort by the boys in blue. Ateneo, which improved to a 3-0 record, worked as a team en route to an unbelievable 30-assist output, the most in the league since the FEU Tamaraws had the same number of dishes in one game in 2005, which helped pave the way to a huge 24-point win over an improved NU squad.

The first quarter began with a quick 4-0 Ateneo lead coming from baskets by forward Nico Salva and rookie Kiefer Ravena followed by a big block on the other end of the floor by Greg Slaughter. NU was held scoreless for more than 3 minutes until Bulldog forward Reden Celda converted at the 6:47 mark. A Kirk Long foul on Parks resulted in a three-point play for the latter with 6:00 left in the first quarter to put the Bulldogs ahead by 1. That would later on prove to be the only time National University would taste the lead all game. Ateneo was on top at the close of the first quarter, 16-11.

A booming triple from returning forward Oping Sumalinog at the 7-minute mark of the second quarter gave way to a 21-15 lead. With 6:02 left before halftime, Slaughter converted on a three-point play on NU center Emmanuel Mbe to up the margin, 24-17. Great defense by the Blue Eagles forced NU to commit costly turnovers and clock burnouts which resulted in easy baskets on the other end. Big rebounds from the smallest guy on the floor, Emman Monfort characterized Ateneo’s play all game long. Nico Salva led the Ateneo offense with 8 points at the end of two quarters while half of NU’s production came from Mbe who finished the first half with 10. Ateneo was up by 18 as both teams headed to the dugout, 38-20.

The second half was the resumption of a furious Ateneo attack on both offense and defense. The Blue Eagles’ unselfishness with sharing the ball and tenacity on defense resulted in a 31-17 disparity in the third quarter. The final 2 minutes saw three Ateneo players hit a barrage of shots from outside the arc. Long made back to back threes followed by Juami Tiongson who also hit back to back treys of his own at the buzzer to give the Blue Eagles a 69-37 advantage coming into the 4th quarter.

The final 10 minutes had the Bulldogs playing better, outscoring the Blue Eagles 25-17, but the lead would be too insurmountable with time running out. Ateneo’s defense also kept up its intensity with Greg Slaughter collecting his second block of the game early in the 4th quarter on a hapless former RP Youth mainstay Joffrey Javillionar. Ateneo also continued to force the other team to give up the ball and convert on the other end, finishing with 29 points off turnovers. The Blue Eagles running game resulted in 23 fastbreak points with NU only making 9. The final minutes of the game also heralded the arrival of Ateneo’s other rookies BJ Cipriano and Von Pessumal, as well as sophomore big man Jeric Estrada, who all saw action for the first time today.

Slaughter led Ateneo’s scorers with 15 points and 7 boards. Ravena added 13 while Long had 11 to go with a game-high 7 assists. Nico Salva playing in his fourth year for Ateneo had a double-double performance with 12 points and 10 rebounds while dishing off 3 assists. Monfort pickpocketed 4 steals and finished with 7 points and 6 assists.

After the game, Coach Norman Black said, “Offensively, we just wanted to run. Looking at the stats, we saw they were giving up a lot of fastbreak points so we just wanted to control the defensive boards and get up and run on every opportunity.”

Asked about today’s resounding win and Ateneo’s next assignment this weekend, Rookie Kiefer Ravena added, “After the win against La Salle we didn’t have time to celebrate because it was just one win. We had to focus on NU and now we have to focus on UE. We have to get our rest for practice tomorrow and for the game on Saturday.”

The Blue Eagles will play the still winless UE team on Saturday, 3pm at the Araneta Coliseum.

SCORES:
ATENEO – Slaughter 15, Ravena 13, Salva 12, Long 11, Sumalinog 7, Monfort 7, Erram 6, Tiongson 6, Capacio 2, Gonzaga 2, Chua 2, Austria 2, Pessumal 1, Cipriano 0, Estrada 0, Golla 0

NU- Parks 20, Alolino 11, Mbe 10, Celda 7, Javillonar 6, Celiz 2, Khobuntin 2, Magat 2, Labing-isa 1, Terso 1, Villamor 0, Rono 0, Eman 0, Ignacio 0

QUARTER SCORING: 16-11, 38-20, 68-37, 86-62

Written by: Mikko Abello