In a remarkably well-fought game that featured seven deadlocks and seven lead changes, the Blue Eagles fended off the Green Archers, , in the do-or-die Game 3 of the best-of-three finals to dethrone their rivals and annex the UAAP crown. It's all worth it. It's all for them and for God.
A sellout crowd of 22, fans watched at the Araneta Coliseum on Sunday as the Blue Eagles surged to an early point lead at the end of the first frame, only for the Green Arches to claw their way back again as they did in Game 2 of the series. By the end of the third period, the two squads were back to square one as they were knotted up at all.
There, the execution and hard work that abandoned the Blue Eagles in their Game 2 meltdown came to their rescue. Those three-point bombs touched off a run that turned a slim deficit into a point lead, , with just to play as the Blue Eagles appeared ready to run away with the crown. Yet as they did in Game 2, La Salle showed that they had no intention of relinquishing the crown that easily.
A triple by Aljun Melecio touched off a run for the defending champions, with reigning MVP Ben Mbala coming through with a three-point play, and Andrei Caracut knocking down the triple that made it a two-point game, , with still There was no panic shown by Ateneo, however.
Out of a timeout, they put the ball in the hands of Ravena, who ran a picture-perfect pick-and-pop with Isaac Go. The big man, as he has time and again this season, found himself open from beyond the arc. And just as he did against Far Eastern University in the Final 4, Go did not hesitate in letting it fly. His shot hit nothing but net, giving the Blue Eagles an cushion with Francis Xavier," said Go, who starred for Xavier School in high school. Out of a timeout, La Salle tried to go to Mbala but the Cameroonian star lost the ball, and Ateneo's Ikeh forced a jump ball with the possession heading to the Blue Eagles.
That led to a split at the line for Asistio that made it , and La Salle halved that lead when Melecio drilled a triple with 5. But Nieto coolly knocked down a pair of clutch free throws with 4. Ravena finished with 17 points, eight rebounds, five assists and three steals, en route to winning Finals MVP honors — an award that his celebrated older brother, Kiefer, never won in his own stellar collegiate career. Nieto, Ateneo's hard-working point guard, had 14 points, while Ikeh tallied 12 points and 13 rebounds and heard the Ateneo gallery chant his name at the end of the contest.
Asistio contributed 11 points, while Go scored seven points — including the dagger — in just 12 minutes off action. Ricci Rivero, one of the heroes in La Salle's Game 2 win, had 14 points, and Caracut finished with 13 markers.
Matt Nieto followed with 14 points and went a perfect 6-of-6 from the stripe. Graduating center Chibueze Ikeh registered a double-double of 12 points and 13 rebounds to end his basketball career in the UAAP.
Anton Asistio also scored for the Blue Eagles in double digits with 11, all of his field goals coming from the 3-point range. Ben Mbala dropped a double-double of 19 points and 14 points to topscore for the Green Archers. The Blue Eagles had a strong start, pulling away with a point lead at the end of the first quarter DLSU continued to cut the deficit until Ricci Rivero finally tied the score at all with left in the first half.
Aljun Melecio of De La Salle displayed the champion's heart, but his efforts fell short. Both teams continued to trade leads until Ravena won back the lead for Ateneo.
The Blue Eagles went on an run to close out the first half, punctuated by Asistio's buzzer-beating triple.
0コメント