Source: Joey Villar, philstar.com
-- Ateneo bucked a fourth quarter meltdown as it leaned on Jai Reyes’ clutch baskets down the stretch, turning back Far Eastern U, 74-70, yesterday and clinching the Philippine Collegiate Champions League crown at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City.
Reyes fired a triple in the last 2:30 minutes of the contest, snapping Ateneo’s five-minute scoring spell while the Eagles held the Tams scoreless for a closing 7-0 blitz that turned a 67-70 deficit into a rousing victory.
The win thus capped Ateneo’s banner season in the collegiate league that also saw the Eagles complete their back-to-back title romp in the UAAP before bagging the Unigames crown.
For a while, the Tams appeared headed for a big comeback from a 12-point deficit as they silenced the Eagles in five-and-a-half minute stretch in the last period to transform a 61-67 deficit into a 70-67 lead with 2.45 minutes left in the match.
But Reyes, playing his last game for Ateneo, buried a triple and Chris Sumalinog foiled a Paul Sanga jumper on the other end before scoring on a basket in the last 45.2 seconds as the Eagles regained the lead, 72-70.
Ryan Buenafe secured the victory with a pair of free throws as the Eagles completed a 2-1 series win in the tournament which gathered the best collegiate teams in the land.
The victory also came as a fitting present for Ateneo, which celebrated its 150th anniversary last Saturday.
“It was really a tremendous year for us, I couldn’t ask for more,” said Ateneo coach Norman Black.
He paid tribute to Reyes, who finished with 17 points that included four triples, and Nonoy Baclao, who skipped his game with the Philippine Patriots against the Brunei Barracudas in Brunei last night to backstop the team’s title bid.
Baclao finished with four points, five rebounds, two assists and a shot block as he filled the slack left by Rabeh Al-Hussaini, who opted to skip the championship series.
Source: Joey Villar, philstar.com
-- Reigning back-to-back UAAP champion Ateneo bounced back from a Game One defeat for a resounding 90-63 rout of Far Eastern U yesterday to force a sudden death for the Philippine Collegiate Champions League crown at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City.
The Eagles worked on their vaunted pressing defense to take the sting out of the Tams in the early going of the contest then leaned on Nico Salva’s superb shooting to fashion out the easy victory.
Salva, tipped to take charge for Ateneo next year with the graduation of several key players, came away with a game-high 26 points, including 13 in the first half when the Eagles overcame a 15-17 deficit in the first quarter to seize a 42-33 lead at the turn.
The Loyola-based squad sustained its form at resumption, scoring in bunches in transition behind a stifling defense to virtually put the outcome beyond doubt at 69-49 entering the fourth quarter.
“We played much better defense this time. We didn’t even pay attention to our offense in preparing for this game,” said Ateneo coach Norman Black.
Salva’s awesome offense more than made up for the absence of Rabeh Al-Hussaini, who was sorely missed in the Eagles’ 70-75 loss to the Tams in the opener of the best-of-three series last Wednesday.
It was practically over as early in the third quarter when the Eagles turned a nine-point halftime lead into a huge 20-point advantage going into the final 10 minutes of play.
Salva then teamed up again with Eric Salamat, who finished with 20 points, as they went into a scoring spree in the fourth quarter.
“He (Salva) played a career game, I’m happy for him,” said Black.
The winner-take-all match is set Sunday, a day after Ateneo celebrates its 150th anniversary.
“It means we will not be celebrating much. We’ll be there but we will rest early for Sunday’s game,” said Black.
Aside from Al-Hussaini, Noy Baclao is also a doubtful starter in Game Three because of a previous commitment with the Philippine Patriots, who face off with the Brunei Barracudas in Brunei, in the ABL, also on Sunday.
With Smart Gilas Pilipinas veteran Aldrech Ramos taking charge, the Tams took control early but just couldn’t pull away, settling for a two-point edge after the first quarter.
A triple by Chris Sumalinog, a floater by Salva and a foul shot by Ryan Buenafe against a basket each by MC Vinluan and JR Cawaling of FEU tied the count at 21 early in the second period.
Then Salva and Salamat combined in a telling 17-0 run to power the Tams to a 38-21 lead.
FEU, behind Cawaling, fought back on a 12-4 blitz as it cut the deficit to nine at the break.
The scores:
Ateneo 90 – Salva 26, Salamat 20, Baclao 11, Sumalinog 8, Buenafe 6, Long 5, Reyes 5, Gonzaga 3, Chua 2, Austria 2, Monfort 2, Golla 0, Burke 0, de Chavez 0, Tiongson 0
FEU 63 – Cawaling 18, Ramos 12, Cervantes 12, Sanga 8, Vinluan 4, Exciminiano 2, Knuttel 2, Manalo 2, Garcia 2, Noundou 1, Guerrero 0
Quartercores:15-17; 42-33; 69-49: 90-63
Source: abs-cbnnew.com
-- Another epic comeback by the Tamaraws. Another heroic effort from RR Garcia. This seems to be the script Far Eastern University (FEU) is following in its magical ride in the 2009 Philippine Collegiate Champions League (PCCL).
The Tamaraws took Game One of the best-of-three Finals, 75-70, against Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) on Wednesday at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig.
Garcia reprised his “savior” role as he unloaded 12 of his game-high 22 points in the fourth period to lead the FEU Tamraws to the come-from-behind win.
Playing decoy for the first 3 periods, Garcia exploded when it mattered the most, hitting 3 triples and 2 dagger treys to break the hearts of the UAAP back-to-back champion Ateneo Blue Eagles.
His last basket – a triple – in the last 2:03 mark gave the Tamaraws a 5-point cushion, 72-67, after starting the payoff period down by 6.
The Eagles never recovered, missing all their desperate 3-point attempts from then on. The Tamaraws iced the contest at the stripes to complete the comeback from several deficits that went as high as 12 points.
Garcia went 3-of-5 from long distance and added 8 rebounds and 5 assists in another sterling effort that drew raves from the Tamaraws’ coach Glenn Capacio.
“Kumpleto ang laro ni RR (Garcia). Matalino, ini-involve ang mga teammates niya at higit sa lahat, maganda ang attitude,” Capacio said of his prized guard from Zamboanga.
True enough, Garcia and 4 more other Tamaraws hit in double figures to underscore their collective effort to finally redeem themselves from a disappointing third place finish in the UAAP.
Paul Sanga pumped in 15 points while Reil Cervantes, who sprained his ankle midway in the third period, still wound up with 14 markers.
Pipo Noundou turned in a double-double effort of 12 points and 11 rebounds to fill up the slack of Smart Gilas standout Aldrech Ramos, who was out-of-sync with only a basket in 25 minutes. Another Smart Gilas player JR Cawaling chipped in 10 points to the Tamaraws’ well-balanced attack.
“After three years, nakikita ko na ang dapat kong makita. Magandang character ang nakikita ko ngayon sa team at sana tuloy-tuloy na,” said Capacio, who is in his third year with the team.
Outgoing senior Jai Reyes led the Eagles with 18 points, 12 coming in the first half but went cold in the closing minutes that hastened his team’s downfall.
The Eagles have only less than 24 hours to mount a comeback as Game 2 of t7he series will be played tomorrow (Thursday) 3:30 p.m. in the same venue.
Tickets are being sold for P200 at ringside while P50 at general admission. The games will be telecast live on Studio23 while replays will be aired on Balls Channel at 10 p.m. - by Alder T. Almo
The Scores:
FEU 75 – Garcia 22, Sanga 15, Cervantes 14, Noundou 12, Cawaling 10, Ramos 2, Guerrero 0, Exciminiano 0, Vinluan 0, Knuttel 0, Manalo 0.
ADMU 70 – Reyes 18, Salva 14, Sumalinog 11, Baclao 7, Golla 6, Buenafe 6, Salamat 6, Long 2, Chua 0, Austria 0, Monfort 0.
Quarters: 12-24, 37-39, 54-60, 75-70.
Source: Joey Villar, philstar.com
-- Ateneo and Far Eastern U pulled off contrasting victories over separate rivals yesterday to finally seal an aborted UAAP finale in the Philippine Collegiate Champions League at the Ynares Sports Center in Pasig City.
The Eagles bucked the absence of UAAP finals MVP Rabeh Al-Hussaini as the rest stepped up to tame the San Beda Lions, this year’s NCAA runners-up, 81-69.
The Tams leaned on RR Garcia in the dying seconds to repulse the NCAA champion San Sebastian Stags in a gripping 86-83 overtime win to arrange what promises to be an explosive best-of-three title series beginning tomorrow.
Chris Sumalinog, Jai Reyes and Eric Salamat each fired 14 points while Ryan Buenafe and Noy Baclao added in 13 and 11 points, respectively, as they more than made up for the absence of Al-Hussaini, who is with Smart Gilas Pilipinas.
The twin wins thus set a championship duel between two teams tipped to dispute this year’s UAAP crown before University of the East foiled their bid and snatched the other finals berth.
“We’re hoping to play a little bit better in the finals. We’re still not complete but we’re doing the best we can to make for it,” said Ateneo coach Norman Black, whose charges topped this same event two years ago.
The Stags and the Lions, who also figured in the NCAA finals, dispute third place honors in their own series.
Garcia fired a game-high 28 points, including 10 in overtime to help power the Tams to the hard-earned win.
“He played big time, he just saved us in this game,” said FEU coach Glenn Capacio of his talented rookie guard from Zamboanga.
Source: Jonas Terrado, mb.com.ph
-- Ateneo and Far Eastern University hammered out contrasting victories to arrange an all-UAAP finals Monday in the 2009 Philippine Collegiate Champions League at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City.
The back-to-back UAAP titlists Eagles dumped San Beda College, 81-69, while the Tamaraws came from behind to oust NCAA champion San Sebastian College in overtime, 86-83.
The best-of-three championship starts tomorrow at 4 p.m. after the 2 p.m. battle for third place between the Stags and the Red Lions, also at the Ynares Sports Arena.
Despite the absence of Smart Gilas mainstay Rabeh Al-Hussaini, the Blue Eagles went on a shooting spree in the fourth quarter to win pulling away.
"We're hoping to play a little bit better unlike this game. We're still not complete but we'll just do the best we can in the finals," said Ateneo coach Norman Black.
Oping Sumalinog, Jai Reyes, and Eric Salamat fired 14 points each, with Ryan Buenafe adding 13 points to lead the Eagles. They combined for all the nine treys converted by the Eagles, most of them in the payoff period.
But while the Eagles had an easy sailing in claiming the second finals berth, the Tamaraws needed a late comeback anchored behind 5-foot-11 guard RR Garcia to hammer out the victory.
Garcia banged in 17 points in the fourth and extra periods to bring back life to the Tamaraws, who trailed the Stags by as much as eight points late in regulation period.
Garcia finished with 28 points, five rebounds, six assists and six steals in 40 minutes of action.
“Grabe ang pinapakitang character ng mga players ko. Down kami ulit pero hindi pa rin sila bumigay at natutuwa ako at nagma-mature sila,” said FEU coach Glenn Capacio, whose team is looking to win the national championship for a record third time.
FEU, which came back from a six-point deficit in the final two minutes of its game against University of the East in the Elite Eight, exploded a 10-0 bomb to turn a 61-69 deficit to a 71-69 lead with 20 second remaining in regulation.
Ronald Pascual sent the game into extra period with an alley-oop from a pass by Jimbo Aquino.
The Tamaraws, with Garcia hitting back-to-back treys and Cawaling adding another one, raced to an 82-77 lead with 2:27 left in overtime.
San Sebastian fought back with three straight baskets to grab the lead anew, 83-82, 1:24 to go.
But as fate would have it, the Stags failed to but another basket from there allowing the Tamaraws to come through with a 4-0 windup for the win.
Reil Cervantes added 18 points and seven rebounds while Smart Gilas mainstay JR Cawaling contributed 14 points despite a 4-of-11 shooting.
First Game
FEU 86 — Garcia 28, Cervantes 18, Cawaling 14, Ramos 7, Exciminiano 7, Knuttel 4, Noundou 4, Vinluan 2, Sanga 2, Guerrero 0.
SSC 83 — Aquino 23, Pascual 16, del Rio 12, Raymundo 12, Abueva 9, Sangalang 7, Maconocido 4, Semira 0, Najorda 0, Bulawan 0.
Quarters: 20-11, 33-31, 53-55, 71-71 (Reg.), 86-83 (OT).
Second Game
ATENEO 81 — Sumalinog 14, Reyes 14, Salamat 14, Buenafe 13, Baclao 11, Salva 8, Long 5, Golla 2, Gonzaga 0, Chua 0, Austria 0, Tiongson 0, Monfort 0.
SAN BEDA 69 — Lanete 15, Gamalinda 13, dela Rosa 12, Caram 8, Marcelo 7, Tecson 5, Villanueva 3, Solera 2, Lim 2, Pascual 2.
Quarters: 12-18, 39-34, 58-53, 81-69.
Source: Alder T. Almo, abs-cbnnews.com
-- The Far Eastern University (FEU) Tamaraws pulled off a miraculous win against the University of the East (UE) Red Warriors, 86-85, in the Philippine Collegiate Champions League (PCCL) Elite Eight on Wednesday at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig.
Down by six points, 77-83, with 1:45 left, the Tamaraws closed out the game with a 9-2 run and watched Val Acuna miss an unmolested layup at the buzzer to escape with the win.
RR Garcia sparked FEU’s rally with a triple then capped off his heroics with the final basket off Raphy Reyes’ turnover in the final 17.5 seconds.
UE still had the chance but But Acuna missed an open lay up at the buzzer.
The Tamaraws, who were down by 10 points midway the second period, leaned on the hot shooting of JR Cawaling to sit on 49-40 spread at halftime.
Cawaling scored 20 of his game-high 25 points in the first half, connecting four triples in the second quarter alone.
The Warriors, however, quickly zapped FEU’s 12-point lead in the third period to regain the upper hand.
UE sparked an 11-2 exchange in the fourth quarter but FEU played steady down the stretch to erase the bitter memory of their Final Four loss to the same squad in the UAAP.
“It’s a miraculous win. Merong doubts na we can’t pull it off, merong doubts na magco-collapse kami. I’m happy they did not give up,” said FEU coach Glenn Capacio.
Aside from Cawaling, who also had 6 assists, FEU also drew big games from the rest of the team.
Paul Sanga came through with 18 points and 5 assists while Reil Cervantes had an almost double-double with 12 points and 8 boards. Garcia scored 12 and added 7 assists while Ramos had an all-around game with 9 markers, 11 boards and 3 blocks.
UE, on the other hand, got 19 points from Acuna while Lee flirted with a triple-double collecting 18 points, 11 boards and 9 assists.
The Tamaraws advanced to the Final Four opposite the winner of San Sebastian-Letran Elite Eight match up. Alder T. Almo
The Scores:
FEU 86 – Cawaling 25, Sanga 18, Cervantes 12, Garcia 12, Ramos 9, Vinluan 4, Exciminiano 2, Knuttel 2, Noundou 2, Manalo 0.
UE 85 – Acuna 19, Lee 18, Llgas 15, Espiritu 14, Zamar 8, Flores 7, Sumido 4, Noble 0, Ayala 0, Duran 0, Reyes 0.
Quarters: 17-23, 49-40, 64-61, 86-85.
