7 and 8, Falcons on a Plate.

by Migi

Eric Salamat must have had one heck of a good night's sleep. Eric Salamat must have given proverbial "thank yous" to the high heavens for his marksmanship in yesterdays ballgame.

He did, after all, score 12 points from behind the arc, en route to 18 overall, a UAAP career high, in Ateneo's 78-74 win over the now 3rd place FEU Tamaraws.

The game between the gladiators from Morayta and the Loyola Heights wasn't pretty. At the end of the half, Ateneo was 15-22 from the foul line, while FEU was 0-0. The Eagles shot 9-26 from the floor at the break, while the Tamaraws shot a similarly dismal 11-27. Gimmes were constantly missed by Ateneo in the first half, and FEU's offensive life, for the most part, was dependent on jumpers from far, far away (while hot shooting is always nice to see, once the torrid shooting ebbs, things do begin to look very ugly).

In the second half, the Eagles countered Coach Glenn Capacio of FEU's high zone defensive approach with their own slew of hot shooting, plus more assertive play around the basket (Al Hussaini scored 5 points in the first half, and scored 16 overall eventually, but shot only 4-11 from the floor, as did Ryan Buenafe). While the FEU Tamaraws didn't let up much on defense, or on offense, Ateneo did manage to play just enough D, and make heady enough plays in the endgame to withstand a surge from a squad that continues to be fueled by the passion born out of the loss of their top scorer, Marnel Baracael.
ADMU captain Chris Tiu scored 16 points on 6-10 shooting, all while nabbing seven rebounds and playing solid defense across passing lanes, as evidenced by his 3 steals. The Tams' Reil Cervantes scored 14 points and chalked up 6 caroms, all while he and Aldrich Ramos frustrated Ateneo's frontline early with gang defense and quick moves to the hole. All in all, people at the Philsports Arena, and those watching on television were all treated to the creme-dela-creme of college basketball- solid, clean, play, passion, hustle, and drama, all worth the price of admission, scalper-sourced or otherwise.

In the intial offering for the day, the UST Growling Tigers, spearheaded by Jervy Cruz's career high 29 points and 15 monstrous rebounds, downed the Adamson Falcons, 97-83. The game was the highest scoring contest for the 2006 champion Tigers in 8 seasons, and marked both the return of 5th year point guard John Paul "Japs" Cuan to the Thomasian's fray, and yet another solid game from Ateneo summer-leaguer turner Growling Tiger Clark Bautista, who scored 12 points while shooting 4-8 from the three point area. Adamson was led by Paul Gonzalgo and Jan Colina's 20 points, along with 15 points from ultra-quick floor general Jerrick Canada.

This game was a showcase of precisely why, while Dylan Ababou is having a breakout campaign thus far, Jervy Cruz is still the main man for the UST Growling Tigers. Jervy is as Shaquille O'Neal was to the Lakers as Rabeh Al Hussaini is as Tim Duncan is, currently, to the San Antonio Spurs. While a handful of big men have emerged in the UAAP in scene over the past year or so (Michael Galinato, Hans Thiele, Rabeh Al Hussaini, and others), it is of the author's humble opinion that no one, still, has the amazing fusion of footwork and gargantuan strength that #20 of the UAAP's Espana-based team, has.

As of now, Adamson is on the outside-looking in. The Falcons are tied with the UP Fighting Maroons and NU Bulldogs for last place in the UAAP. Do any of the 3 squads still have a chance at making the final four? Mathematically, yes, in terms of skill, yes too. The league's upper tier teams would be foolish to count NU, Adamson, and UP out, especially with players like Co, Reyes, Asoro, Jahnke, Gonzalgo, Canada, and Galinato who can light it up at the drop of a hat. The one common denominator for the success of the teams mentioned, however, is something that they've all had a tough time grasping in Season 71- stability under pressure. All of the 3 teams mentioned have a tendency to acquiesce to poor shot selection. All of the 3 teams tend to play lackadaisical defense in stretches. All of the 3 teams have a proclivity to forget about execution and play too much one on one basketball, or, forget about spacing the floor well when it counts. With UE playing shaky ball and UST being formidable, and yet, beatable on any given day, the race to the last Final Four spot looks to be a doozy, but any of the three lower wrung teams making it to the finals should be a shot in the dark if they go into ballgames with "luck" as their primary gun. "Luck" just won't cut it sometimes. That, they need to understand.

On the FEU-Ateneo side of things, people bore witness to just how dangerous FEU could be, even without Baracael in uniform. Ben Fernandez has had a solid 5th year, and so has heady point man Mark Barroca. UE may still have the quickest offensive draw in the league, but in terms of the number of perimeter guns in ones holster, I think this season's edition of the FEU Tams would give UE, or any other team that seeks to employ a run n'gun style, for that matter, a serious run for their money. The New York Knicks of the early seventies- the Knicks squads that featured the likes of Debusschere, Frazier, and Monroe, were unique in that every single player that took the floor could play from the perimeter. FEU fits a similar mould.

The Ateneo Blue Eagles, again, proved that, when push comes to shove, they aren't lacking in young men willing to take bullets and lay their bodies on the line during crunch time crossfires. In their recent game against UST, Jai Reyes had a breakout game, typified by a 3-ball he netted with under a minute left in the contest, a basket that pushed the game away from the Tigers' grasp. In this game, Rabeh Al Hussaini and Chris Tiu were their usual selves (more or less), while Eric Salamat played spark plug. Salamat has been criticized for being a player with immense skill, but one, also, with a bad habit of turning the ball over. The former San Beda Staglet was the former today, without being the latter, as he showed the poise and daredevil offensive prowess that made him one of the more sought after cagers coming out of high school. While the Blue and White does need to shoot better from the outside, one has to be impressed with the defensive intensity they've shown in each of their 9 contests so far. When a team's offense is on the downside, stops will always help see you through. You can't win if you can't score, but then, if you prevent your nemesis from scoring, you somehow stem the tide and give yourself a chance at coming out on top. It's what Ateneo's done consistently this year- they've given themselves ample opportunities at victory through hustle and "prevention". "Prevention", after all, is the best sort of antidote to a lethargic offensive charge.

And so yes, it was, indeed, quite an eventful 888 in the UAAP.

*Offbeat Thought: First, it was Kirk Long and Vince Burke wearing the wrong jerseys to an Ateneo contest against UP (they wore their summer league uni's instead of their UAAP jerseys). Then, it was James Martinez of UE and his "wrong shorts" debacle. When will all of these uniform booboos end? Who's to blame, the people in charge of making sure the proper uniforms are put to pasture (equipment managers), or those who eventually don them? You decide. :P Here's to hoping little things like this can be set aside so that we can focus on "basketball" for a change. :)

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