UAAP Season 71: La Salle loses opening game against Ateneo
Defending champions De La Salle Green Archers suffered its first loss in UAAP Season 71 at the claws of bitter rivals Ateneo Blue Eagles, 73-79 last Sunday before a jampacked crowd at the Araneta Coliseum.
Once again, Chris Tiu delivered the deadly blows to the DLSU Green Archers. The five-year veteran led all scorers with 26 markers including crucial free throws in the final stretch of the game which sealed Ateneo’s victory.
Going into the final 38 seconds of the game, rookie Green Archer Hyram Bagatsing fouled a shooting Chris Tiu from the three-point arc, to the mixed delight and howling of the Ateneo gallery. Tiu converted two of the three charity shots and gave Ateneo a 3 point cushion, 76-73, going into the dying seconds of the ballgame. With time running fast against De La Salle, team captain JV Casio desperately tried to free himself from the pesky defense of the Blue Eagles, and passed the ball to Peejay Barua, who missed a potentially-game tying three-point shot. Ateneo’s Yuri Escueta crushed the hopes of the green and white squad when he grabbed the rebound from the Barua miss, with 20 ticks left in the game.
Although the Blue Eagles had a six-point winning margin, the game was closely fought all throughout, with 15 deadlocks and 12 lead changes.
The Green Archers started slow in the opening quarter, allowing the Katipunan-based squad to surge to an early 6-0 lead. But Casio took charge and joined forces with rookies LA Revilla and Maui Villanueva to bring De La Salle to within one point, 16-17 at the end of the first canto.
In the second quarter, De La Salle found its rhythm as main man Rico Maierhoffer, veteran forward James Mangahas and neophytes David Joshua Webb and Bagatsing alternately pounded Ateneo with their offensive firepower to give the lead to the Green Archers at halftime, 40-35
The Green Archers’ offense continue to operate like a well-oiled machine in the third quarter. But Blue Eagle Eric Salamat proved to be a step quicker than the Green Archer defense, drilling in one basket after another, including a leadgrabbing drive underneath the basket to end the quarter.
The Taft-based squad bounced back in the early part of the fourth quarter and even tasted its highest lead of the ballgame at 67-61 at the 7-minute mark courtesy of a three-point conversion from Mangahas. The Green Archers looked poised to finish off the Blue Eagles, but the latter’s veterans, Jobe Nkemakolam, Rabeh Al-Hussaini and Salamat mounted a 10 to nothing run to erect a four-point lead for Ateneo at 71-67 with 5 minutes remaining in the game.
Coming from a timeout, the Green Archers responded and quickly made two back to back baskets courtesy of Maierhofer and Casio, to even up the scores anew at 71 all. This however, was to be the last deadlock of the ballgame.
Contributing largely to the loss of the Green Archers was their dismal performance from the free throw line. The Green Archers converted only 13 of of the 29 charity baskets awarded to them for a measly 44.8% clip, compared to the Blue Eagles’ 81% (34 out of 42).
Controlling the boards continue to be a problem for DLSU as they got outrebounded by Ateneo, 46 to 41.
The game was marred by uncanny technical fouls called on both sides. Even before the opening tip-off, Coach Franz Pumaren was called for a technical foul for failure to wear his UAAP ID. On the other hand, Ateneo’s Coach Norman Black was also charged with a technical foul, before the start of the final quarter, for “disobeying the commissioner’s orders”
The Scores:
ADMU 79 – Tiu 26, Salamat 10, Al Hussaini 10, Buenafe 8, Nkemakolam 7, Baclao 7, Burke 4, Austria 3, Long 2, Salva 1, Escueta 1, Baldos 0, Reyes 0
DLSU 73 – Casio 19, Maierhofer 16, Mangahas 13, Webb 7, Villanueva 4, Bagatsing 4, Revilla 3, Walsham 2, Atkins 2, Barua 2, Ferdinand 1, Malabes 0
17-16; 35-40; 56-54, 79-73
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Its the team’s poor foul shooting that cost us the game. Why can’t they seem to make their foulshots. Ateneo has such a high percentage from the foul line. In games decided by a small margin, we could always look back at this stat as an area for improvement.
Nevertheles, good game for the Archers. Hope we could bounce back strong against FEU on saturday.
Keep the Faith
Kalokohan talaga yung Techincal Foul due to “NO ID”. Eventhough this has no significant bearing on the outcome of the game, it’s still BS! Lahat na lang pwedeng isipin nang UAAP board just to add more penalties.
yeah thats really BS! im from admu and i think narvasa is overdoing it. normans T is also BS! and a lot of ticky tacky fouls were called for both sides!
i mean, thats franz pumaren, do u even need an id to identify him?!
didnt like the plays for jv during crunch time. more of an iso than a pick and roll, high screen or pick and pop. its too predictable
anyway im glad the blue won last night.. go blue!!
We lost to a better team.; Far better from the Blue Eagles of Season 70. Man for man,they are superior most especially their freethrow shooting. Our veterans should step up, not just casio and Maierhofer. Walsham, Barua, and Mangahas should contribute on both sides of the court. We deeply miss TY Tang’s contribution especially on stretches where Casio is gun-sour. We sourly miss Cholo’s jumpers, hussles, and leadership. The good thing is that our rookies showed their potentials. They may be not as promising as Buenafe, Burke, Salva, etal, but they showed that they are willing to fit in with Coach Franz’ system. LA Revilla should improve his court decision-making, i.e. when to pass and when to shoot. It is imperative for Webb, Bagatsing, and Maui Villanueva to be more pesky in their individual defense and more accurate in their freethrow shooting. Walsham and Ferdinand shouls crash the board with impunity, defend well the opposition’s big men and stay out of foul trouble. Malabes? Improve his shooting ASAP. We should be aware that Coach Franz will miss at least 5 games due to his commitment with the RP Youth Team. We cannot afford to lose but we cannot afford to peak at the early part of the tournament. Our Archers should find their heart, sharpen their arrow, and strengthen their bows for us to conquer the Blue Eagles, Tamaraws, Warriors, Tigers, Bulldogs,Falcons, and the rest of our detractors. Keep the Faith but work hard.
Learn to shoot free throws please. Basics wins games. And textbook little things like nailing your freebies will make or break you. Ateneo won because of their FT shooting, nothing else. At the end of the day, it’s all about getting that W. Boching 16 free throws, and losing by 6 pts. Jeez. We have this problem since before. How come we can’t seem to improve on this area?
I suggest that the team makes 10 foul shots in a row or else they will not go home from practice. Perhaps they could hire Ren Ren Ritualo as a shooting consultant.
Good game! Kudos to our players! Esp to our rookies! PLEASE work on your free throws! C’mmon learn from your experience, esp to our veterans. It just kills us each and every game…esp with ADMU!
KEEP THE FAITH!
ANIMO LA SALLE!
Chito Narvasa’s conduct was really unbecoming.
The T’s on both Franz and Norman were plain stupid.
We were beaten not only because of poor freethrow shooting but with poor shot selection and turnovers on the last 3 minutes. Ateneo was just lucky to escape. I hope the GREEN ARCHERS will improve their game.