THREE-POINT PLAY: Ateneo 71, La Salle 61

the phenom and mr. 104 shake hands... and the ref ruining the photo op (photo source)

it sucks to miss watching ateneo-la salle games, whether its live or on television, but the call of duty comes first. i was only able to watch the replay this afternoon through the uaap website. nonetheless, solid team effort by the blue eagles in their first round pairing against the green archers. i just hope i won't miss the second round match (and perhaps the final four... and who knows, the finals?) between blue and green. here are some random game notes:

one versus three, no problem (photo source)

1. the man in the middle. height is surely one big advantage in basketball, and greg slaughter surely has lots of them. the 7-1 behemoth scored 20 points (on 7-14 fgs and 6-6 fts), grabbed 7 rebounds, made an assist and blocked an la revilla lay-up. la salle used their big men against slaughter, often double and even triple-teaming him. they were successful in taking the ball away from him in the earlier parts of the game, but greg surely found his stroke in the second half with the up-and-under move going to the hook shot. he knows how to use the left too. hopefully greg develops his inside game further as the season progresses.

#nickobesystem locked and loaded (photo source) 

2. #nickobesystem. as usual, nico salva's performance serves as a barometer for an ateneo victory. he basically torched whoever was in front of him in the game, partly because his guard was doubling slaughter most of the time, leaving him with a smaller defender whom he can exploit on his way to the basket. he is too quick and athletic for a power forward and has been steady on the mid-range. his consistency will be key in this drive for five.

kiefer to mac: "blue is the better color" (photo source) 

3. one really random thought. kiefer ravena vs. mark tallo. is this even a match-up? tallo should better reflect again on why he left the blue eagles towards the end of summer in 2011. though he played big minutes against feu due to la revilla's absence, the fact still remains: he's still a third-stringer in la salle. he would have flourished in ateneo if he knew his role and took his time.

The scores:
ATENEO 71 – Slaughter 20, Salva 16, Ravena 16, Chua 6, Tiongson 4, Elorde 3, Buenafe 3, Pessumal 2, Erram 1, Sumalinog 0, Gonzaga 0.

LA SALLE 61 – Revilla 16, Teng 13, N. Torres 11, Dela Paz 7, Manguera 6, Van Opstal 2, Andrada 2, Webb 2, Mendoza 1, Tampus 1, Paredes 0, Vosotros 0, T. Torres 0, Gotladera 0, Tallo 0.

Quarter scores: 20-8, 35-26, 53-50, 71-61.

photos from sirs philip sison, arvin lim, and erwin cabbab of fabilioh.com