MANILA, Philippines - Revenge fuelled Ateneo as it clobbered archrival and first-round tormentor La Salle, 75-54, yesterday in the UAAP Season 73 men’s basketball tourney at the packed Araneta Coliseum.
Kirk Long killed the Green Archers from the outside, knocking down 22 points on 4-of-5 clip from rainbow country while rookie Arthur dela Cruz had a double-double (10 markers and 10 rebounds) as the Blue Eagles avenged their 63-66 setback to their rivals.
More importantly, the defending champions assured themselves of at least a playoff for a Final Four slot with an 8-2 card behind early semifinalist Far Eastern (9-1).
“It’s a big win not only because it helped us in the standings but because it’s (at the expense of) De La Salle,” said Ateneo coach Norman Black, whose wards are now unbeaten in their last six assignments.
Long hit three treys to spark a 25-2 salvo in a stretch bridging the latter part of the first and the 8:18 mark of the second giving Ateneo a 29-11 edge.
Not letting up, the Katipunan-based cagers stretched the lead further to 55-29, 4:27 to go in the third.
Black said the Eagles’ better perimeter defense and press break keyed their win, posted in front of 15,632 fans, including former President Joseph Estrada, who cheered at the AdMU section with his son Sen. Jinggoy.
“We did a better defensive job against their perimeter shooters and cutting down on their three-point shots made,” said Black, whose crew held La Salle to only two triples out of 18 tries this time.
“We also did a better job breaking their press and scoring points, especially in the first three quarters,” he added.
La Salle coach Dindo Pumaren blamed the loss to their atrocious first half.
“It’s our bad start,” said the DLSU mentor, whose team dropped to 6-4 but still maintained fourth position.
“We didn’t play La Salle basketball – we forgot our defensive rules, made a lot of mistakes in rotation and in pick-and-roll patterns, mainly because of the excitement and we allowed Ateneo to dictate the tempo,” he added
Ateneo dominated the boards, 46-36, played better as a team with 23 assists against La Salle’s 13, had more steals, 8-5, and more shotblocks, 5-2.
Earlier, National U bucked a lethargic start and survived University of the Philippines, 61-59, in a tactical endgame.
Jewel Ponferrada canned his first free throw off Francis Maniego with 1.2 ticks left and upon the instruction
Subject: Eagles show no fear, no mercy 
Mon Aug 23, 2010 11:21 am
