ateneo finishes the first round on top

after a heartbreaking loss against FEU last thursday, the Ateneo Blue Eagles bounced back with an impressive win against the team that beat them in the uaap season 69 finals. with the win, ateneo finishes the first round of season 71 with a 6-1 win-loss record, with both FEU and DLSU losing to NU and UE, respectively, both going down to 5-2. UST, on the other hand, drops to 3-4, a half a game below the .500 mark placing them outside the current final four picture.

the game was a game of spurts from both teams but ateneo seemed to control the pace of the whole game. it was usually the blue eagles trying to pull away from the tigers but the tigers from espana kept coming back, usually at striking distance. the eagles almost let a game slip away again with the tigers taking the lead with around 2 minutes left after a Khasim Mirza 5 point swing, putting them ahead by 3 points, 51-54. after a timeout, ateneo finally pulled away with a 13-0 run using great plays and excellent defense, led by Nonoy Baclao's 4 blocks. they ended the game with a run that almost left the tigers scoreless for the rest of the game, scoring only a three when the game was already decided. the final score was 64-57.

Nonoy Baclao only scored two points but had 10 rebounds and 4 blocks, about 3 of them in the crucial minutes of the game. Jai Reyes stepped up big time with his scoring this time, giving ust the dagger three off a Chris Tiu assist. Rabeh Al-Hussaini played another big game with 16 points and 6 rebounds, now a formidable MVP candidate after a 33-20 game. expect norman black to continually pound the ball inside to Rabeh for his now-unstoppable jump hook.

i thought this was also going to be a showcase of top rookies namely Ryan Buenafe and Clark Bautista. Ryan Buenafe finally looked like a rookie when he made some bad decisions late in the game. i think he was a bit distracted with Dylan Ababou hounding him on defense. still, he scored about 12 points. the only way the tigers stopped him was by fouling him. Clark Bautista on the other hand only converted on one three after his "birthday" last game when he scored 18 points, all from the three-point line. i heard that Bautista was actually on ateneo's team B but suddenly enrolled in UST. maybe he thought that he won't be able to play much because of ateneo's crowded back court, which i think is true. i think it's a good career move for him.

the First Round of Season 71 ends with a bunch of upsets. (well, if you consider the w-l records of the teams coming into games) FEU won against UE and Ateneo. UP won against Adamson! i actually thought Adamson was a really strong team with Galinato leading the way. now UP is making some noise! yeah. UE made things complicated by beating La Salle. then now NU beat FEU (the team i almost thought could win it all this year, playing much inspired basketball).

woah. so much parity in the UAAP. coooooL! this year looks like a combination of the previous two seasons, when a losing team may just win it all in the end while there's a logjam of teams in the top 4!

Go Ateneo. Go UP.

Now i really want one of those adidas ateneo jackets for my birthday.