| Article Index |
|---|
| Ateneo takes Game 1 from La Salle, 69-61, in UAAP |
| Page 2 |
| Page 3 |
| All Pages |
HE HAS, undoubtedly, turned into Ateneo's blueprint for success this season.
From strong inside plays to soft perimeter touches, Rabeh Al-Hussaini again proved dominant enough to power Ateneo within a win of the UAAP championship as the Blue Eagles led virtually all the way for a 69-61 Game 1 victory over the La Salle Green Archers in the men's basketball competition Sunday in front of the deafening cheers of a sellout crowd at the Araneta Coliseum.
Al-Hussaini took over the game in the closing quarters by scoring 20 of Ateneo's 33 points in the second half as top gunner Chris Tiu, for the first time, picked up more fouls than points."I had to play Rabeh more minutes than I would have liked because of the foul trouble, but he delivered; he delivered big time," said Ateneo coach Norman Black.
Al-Hussaini, who enjoyed a breakout season so good that the 6-foot-6 center has virtually clinched the Most Valuable Player plum, fell just a bucket short of his career-high points by delivering 31 markers and grabbing nine rebounds.
Rookie Ryan Buenafe also played a big part in knocking out the defending champion Archers by burying all of his 12 points in the first half on top of 11 rebounds and five assists.
Aside from chipping in 12 markers, Jai Reyes helped out at the defensive end along with shot-blocking ace Nonoy Baclao, who posted a season-high seven blocks including two crucial swats on James Mangahas and Rico Maierhofer in the closing minutes.
Early foul troubles sidelined Tiu, who made up for his two-point output -- a jumper with 3:24 minutes left that gave the Eagles a 65-52 advantage -- by contributing three rebounds and three assists. He finished with three fouls.
"I wasn't actually [prepared for Tiu getting into foul trouble]; we were very fortunate that our back-ups, our second stringers really stepped in and held the fort for us," said Black.
The Eagles will shoot for their fourth overall championship in Game 2 of the best-of-three series at 4 p.m. this Thursday also at the Big Dome.
"We are down but not out," said coach Franz Pumaren, whose Archers have yet to win over the Eagles in three encounters this season. "We didn't bring our A-game today. I'm still confident. It takes two games to win this series."
About 22,900 paying fans, who mostly stood up the entire game, filled the Coliseum to the rafters, with some paying more than P25,000 patron tickets, originally priced at P350, from scalpers.
The Archers, who registered season lows in scoring percentage (28.6 percent) and second-chance points (2 points), never found an effective way to shut down Al-Hussaini in the second half.
| Comments |
|
3.26 Copyright (C) 2008 Compojoom.com / Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
