Eagles survive gutsy Archers in overtime

MANILA, Philippines - Ateneo overcame an 11-point deficit, bucked the loss of main man Rabeh Al-Hussaini and survived a gritty La Salle side that kept on coming back to fashion out a 76-72 overtime victory and remain tied with Far Eastern U at the helm in the UAAP seniors basketball tournament at the Araneta Coliseum last night.

The Eagles toughened up on defense in the third quarter to stymie the inspired Archers and erase a 36-47 deficit, then outsteadied their arch rivals in the extra period to complete the come-from-behind victory, their sixth against a loss, in the game held to honor the late President Cory Aquino.

“Luckily the players answered the call at halftime. We came out in the second half and played better defense. In the first half we gave up too many points and I think they were shooting 50 percent on the floor which is pretty unusual,” said Ateneo coach Norman Black.

“But I challenged the players at halftime that if they want to really win the game, they would have to come up and play defense in the third quarter and they were able to hold La Salle to 10 points.

“I think that gave us the opportunity to win back the game,” he said.

Earlier, the Tams beat the UE Warriors via the same score, 76-72, to likewise improve to 6-1.

La Salle and UE dropped to 4-3.

Al-Hussaini, Ateneo’s tower of strength, sprained his left ankle with less than six minutes remaining in the fourth quarter and never returned after scoring 13 points.

But Nico Salva, Noy Baclao, Eric Salamat, Jai Reyes and Bacon Austria stepped up with their gutsy plays, including a trapping defense that broke several La Salle plays in the second half.

“These things happened but in no part of the game can you think negative. Rabeh is one of our key players, if not the key player. The same time if he goes down, other players need to step up and Nico Salva was one who stepped up today (yesterday), Eric Salamat was one who stepped up for us,” said Black.

“I’m not really sure how serious it is, we’ll take a look at it, Dr. (Raul) Canlas will take a look at it later and it doesn’t look like it’s life threatening. I’m not sure how long he’ll be out but it looks like an ankle sprain,” he said.

Despite the loss, La Salle coach Franz Pumaren had good words for his team.

“I don’t think anybody expected us to be where we are right now,” said Pumaren.

He said La Salle could have won the game in regulation, if not for some mental lapses in the closing minutes.

“I guess being a young team took its toll down the stretch. We made some mental mistakes but physically we’re in good shape right now. I don’t think anybody got tired. It’s just the mental aspect that we bungled. That’s part of being a young team,” he said.

“After our first two games I think some of the basketball experts never considered us to be in this kind of a position. So, I think we’re overachieving right now. We’re not going to rest on this one. We will continue competing,” he said.

Aldrech Ramos came through with a superb offensive effort for the second straight game as he fired 14 points and came away with 12 rebounds.

Rookie RR Garcia, Paul Sanga, Cameroonian Pipo Noundou and Mark Barroca chipped in 14, 13, 12 and 11 points, respectively, to cap the Tams’ balanced scoring.

A near fistfight erupted between FEU’s Reil Cervantes and UE’s Pari Llagas after the two got entangled in rebound play with 3.7 seconds to go.

Cervantes and Llagas were eventually assessed disqualifying foul and were ejected.

Armed with a full-court press, the Archers came out roaring in the first half, posting a 40-32 lead at the break. Sophomore Joshua Webb had 17 points in the first two quarters. – With report from