The Warriors reduced Ateneo into a fumbling bunch and roared to a surprising 88-68 blowout victory, spoiling the Blue Eagles’ bid to sweep the title series in Game 2 of the men’s basketball Finals at the jampacked Araneta Coliseum.
Elmer Espiritu highlighted the rout with a spectacular alley-oop dunk off a Paul Lee assist that silenced the predominantly Ateneo crowd and gave the Warriors a 19-point advantage, 79-66, with four minutes left.
“It has been said that it’s the discipline of Ateneo versus the emotions of UE,” said UE coach Lawrence Chongson after his Warriors tied the best-of-three series at 1-1.
“But discipline has its limits. We knew they weren’t just going to take shots, we knew they were going to execute. We had patience in our defense.”
The climactic rubber match of the best-of-three championship duel is set at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday also at the Big Dome with the Eagles aiming to clinch the school’s first back-to-back title romp since 1987-88 and the Warriors vying to end a 24-year title drought.
Espiritu paced a show by UE’s big men with 22 points built on an impressive 8-of-12 field goal clip. Pari Llagas came off the bench with 19 markers on top of six rebounds and five assists.
“We were playing loose, there was no pressure,” Espiritu, the newly minted Defensive Player of the Year, said in Filipino. “After Game 1 we wanted to avenge our loss right away.”
The Eagles were a mere shadow of their form in their 78-71 Game 1 victory as the Warriors came out firing in the second half to finish with a remarkable 52.2 shooting percentage.
“We have been criticized a lot for our system,” said Chongson, whose Warriors snapped the season-best 12 game winning streak of the Eagles, who won their first three meeting with their title rivals.
“We’re really an offensive team, but the defense is still there.”
It was the most lopsided championship match since 2003, when Far Eastern University rolled past Ateneo, 83-65.
“Obviously, they shot the ball extremely well from the perimeter, which is something they haven’t done against us, especially their big guys,” said Ateneo coach Norman Black.
“We have to do a better job defending the three-point line against their big guys. We also gave up a lot of back-door plays in the second half.”
It was Black’s worst UAAP beating since July 10, 2005, when the Eagles absorbed a 78-60 setback against the La Salle Green Archers on his league debut.
UE also held down Rabeh Al-Hussaini to 18 points after the 2008 Most Valuable Player averaged 28.3 points in Ateneo’s first three wins over the Warriors.
“What went right was our defense,” said Chongson. “We went zone (defense), we gambled on it, we clogged the middle and finally reduced Rabeh’s output against us because he always plays his best game against UE.”
The Warriors shot 47.4 percent from three-point range, spiked by Espiritu’s 4-of-5 shooting, while the Eagles struggled with 20.6 percent.
Paul Lee added 13 points, including six in the third quarter when the Warriors took their first double-digit advantage at 63-53.
“I told the boys we’re playing the game of our lives, that we were fighting for our lives,” said Chongson.
Val Acuña also delivered in key stretches for UE to finish with 12 points and eight rebounds, while guard Rudy Lingganay added seven markers, eight boards and three assists.
Back-to-back triples by Espiritu and Llagas at the start of the last period pushed the Warriors ahead, 69-53.
And the Eagles’ frustration showed late in the game when Ateneo guard Emman Monfort was slapped with an unsportsmanlike foul for elbowing Espiritu, with the Warriors up, 79-60.
“Our defense broke down in the second half,” said Black as the Warriors outscored the Eagles, 50-28, in the second half.
The scores:
UE 88—Espiritu 22, Llagas 19, Lee 13, Acuña 12, Lingganay 7, Reyes 6, Zamar 5, Duran 4, Tagarda 0, Bandaying 0.
ATENEO 68—Al-Hussaini 18, Monfort 12, Reyes 11, Baclao 10, Austria 6, Salamat 4, Long 3, Chua 2, Buenafe 2, Sumalinog 0, Salva 0.
Quarters: 18-15, 38-40, 63-53, 88-68
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