For the first time in history the SM Mall of Asia Arena hosted Philippine collegiate sport’s biggest rivalry yesterday. The arena was filled with throngs of green and blue as the De La Salle University (DLSU) Green Archers and the Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) Blue Eagles had their first basketball match in the 75th Season of the UAAP. Ateneo paraded the same core that the dominated the competition last year led by former University of the Visayas (UV) Green Lancer Greg Slaughter, Season 74 Finals MVP Nico Salva, and Super Sophomore Keifer Ravena. DLSU ushered the debut of blue chip recruit Jeron Teng and controversial transferee former CIT Wildkitten/CEC Dragon Mark Jayven Tallo to the historic rivalry. In the end, the Big 3 of the Blue Eagles were just too much for the Archers to get the first win at the MOA Arena in the storied Ateneo-La Salle rivalry as Ateneo won, 71-61.
Ateneo blitzed La Salle from the get go as they prevented a field goal from the Archers in 7 of the 10 minutes in the first period. The Blue Eagles led 20-8 after the first quarter with Ravena matching La Salle’s score with 8 points of his own. LA Revilla led a 16-10 rally to trim the lead half, 24-30, with less than 4 minutes left at the half. Ateneo, however, made a 7-2 run capped by a lay up by Slaughter at the buzzer for 9 point lead at the half.
La Salle finally made a big move in the 3rd period as they outscored the Eagles 24-18 to trail just by 3 going to the final 10 minutes of the game. Teng, Revilla, and Norberto Torres conspired to start the third period with 16-7 run to know the game at 42-all. The next few plays led to 5 lead changes but at the end of the quarter, Ateneo managed to eke out 3 point advantage, 53-50 behind the efforts of Ravena.
At the start of the 4th period, Ateneo showed their inside strength with Slaughter and Salva scoring 4 points each in a 9-3 run to being the lead to 9 at 62-53. La Salle tried to rally once more to close the gap to four at 64-60 with less than 3 minutes left of the game. The Arches, however, crumble at crunch time managed to score only a solitary point the rest the way to end up in a losing of a 71-61 match.
Ateneo’s Big 3 got the lion’s share of the points as Slaughter, Ravena, and Salva had 52 of the 71 Ateneo points. La Salle was led by Revilla’s 16 while Rookie Teng added 13 markers. Mark Tallo had 0. Former Salazar Colleges of Science and Institute of Technology standout Jarelan Tampus finished with 1 point with La Salle. Former Don Bosco Technology Center stalwart Christopher “Oping” Sumalinog went scoreless for the Eagles.
With the win Ateneo leapfrogged La Salle from the standings as the Eagles improved to 3-1 while dropping the Archers to 2-2.
The scores:
ADMU 71: Slaughter 20, Salva 16, Ravena 16, Chua 6, Tiongson 4, Elorde 3, Buenafe 3, Pessumal 2, Erram 1, Sumalinog 0, Gonzaga 0
DLSU 61: Revilla 16, Teng 13, N Torres 11, Dela Paz 7, Manguera 6, Van Opstal 2, Andrada 2, Webb 2, Mendoza 1, Tampus 1, Paredes 0, Vosotros 0, T Torres 0, Gotladera 0, Tallo 0
Quarter scores: 20-8, 35-26, 53-50, 71-61
Tags: Ateneo Blue Eagles, Ateneo-La Salle rivalry, Christopher Sumalinog, De La Salle Green Archers, Greg Slaughter, Jarelan Tampus, LA Revilla, Mark Jayven Tallo, Season 75, University Athletic Association of the Philippines
WARD Billy 4
VEITIA SOTO Yosbany 26
BARRIGA Mark 17
CAPPAI Manuel 7
ZHAKYPOV Birzhan 18
BECCU Jeremy 17
ESSOMBA Thomas 13
DARAA Abdelali 10
LAISHRAM Devendro Singh RSC
MOLINA FIGUEROA Bayron
ORTIZ MARCANO Jantony 20
SULEMANU Tetteh 6
PEHLIVAN Ferhat 16
SUAREZ Carlos 6
de la NIEVE LINARES Jose 11
QUIPO PILATAXI Carlos 14
FLISSI Mohamed 11
PONGPRAYOON Kaeo 19
ALEKSANDROV Aleksandar 22
MAQUINA Juliano Fernando Gento 7
