Blue Eagles Draw First Blood

League leader FEU Tamaraws looked like bunch of school boys being taught their first basketball lesson by professional basketball stars. This statement encapsulates the story in Game One of the Best-of-Three Finals Series of UAAP’s Season 73 held at the championship capital of the Philippines. In front of a sellout crowd at the Araneta Coliseum, Ateneo Blue Eagles methodically dismantle the very same powerhouse squad they have never beaten in the eliminations. FEU has been very vocal of their goal to play in the Finals and dethrone Ateneo since day one of the UAAP hoop. They achieved their goal by defeating De La Salle University in the Final Four but the boys of Coach Glen Capacio were not mentally tough and physically ready for a Finals-type basketball game.


The win solidified Ateneo’s contention for their Three-Feat Quest, something that has never been done in the history of ADMU’s Men’s Basketball team. To date, the University of Santo Tomas (UST), University of the East (UE), De La Salle University (DLSU) and the Far Eastern University (FEU) are the only schools that hold the distinction of having won three consecutive men’s basketball championships since the UAAP was founded in 1938. FEU, National University (NU), University of the Philippines (UP) and UST are the schools which started it all. Adamson University (ADU) and UE joined UAAP when the league expanded in 1952. Ateneo was added to the core schools twenty six (26) years after the first expansion. Eight (8) years after Ateneo’s entry came De La Salle University, thus the biggest and most exciting rivalry between Ateneo and DLSU begun.


The Ateneo Blue Eagles was more determined to win Game One. Playing effective, untiring and disciplined defense all game long, Ateneo scored one of the most lopsided championship (Game 1) victory with a 23-point margin. The Blue Eagles displayed superior basketball capped by their 47% field goal shooting average against the woeful 27% of FEU. This is very uncanny since FEU is the best offensive team of Season 73 entering the finals. FEUs offensive arsenals were even more potent than their average when they played Ateneo in the elimination round. But not tonight. Banking on their back-to-back final appearances, Ateneo Blue Eagles capitalized on their championship experience and severely crushed FEU. There are eleven (11) players in the current Ateneo line up who have won at least one UAAP Championship and none for FEU.


FEU dug a hole for themselves right at the start of the ballgame. Uncoordinated defensive patterns and reluctant shot selections spelled their doom. When league MVP RR Garcia of the FEU Tamaraws missed consecutive point blank jumpers, Blue Eagle Justin Chua lighted the scoreboards with successive unguarded baskets in the paint. On this note, Ateneo ended the first quarter with a 26-8 cushion. The party continued for Coach Norman and his squad in the second quarter. Rookie JP Erram and relievers Luis Lorenzo Gonzaga and Raymond Leonard Austria joined the attacks behind the unselfish fast break plays of Kirk Long, Ryan Buenafe and Team Captain Eric Salamat. The Blue Eagles didn’t look back since then and continued to erect a 42-21 half time lead.


The succeeding twenty (20) minutes of intense second half basketball did little damage to Ateneo even if they have outscored FEU by just a single point in the third and fourth quarter. The half time cushion is enough to secure the pivotal-most important game of the series. Since 1994, 75% (or 12 of 16 instances) of the teams who won Game One have gone to win the title. With the momentum on their side, Ateneo will try to take the crown on Thursday and grab their rightful place in the history of the UAAP as one of the few schools who have successfully completed a back-to-back-to-back championship runs. Game statistics and history are tools to measure team efficiency and leverage each team’s chances of winning. Come Game Two, all these are immaterial, if Ateneo plays and come out with higher intensity than what they showed in Game One, continue to play basic, unselfish, disciplined and intelligent basketball, then Ateneans all over the world will have all the reasons to celebrate another amazing year of Ateneo basketball!