Ateneo-La Salle II: Just another game

We're just hours away from the second meeting of between Ateneo and La Salle, the biggest rivalry in college basketball.

There seems to be little interest though. For obvious reasons, both squads are on different paths in this UAAP season.

Ateneo is dominating with a perfect 10-0 record thanks to the Greg Slaughter's imposing presence in the paint, Kiefer Ravena "unrookie-like" performance and key players such as Nico Salva, Eman Monfort and Kirk Long making their veteran presence.

Saved for some inconsistent first half efforts against University of the Philippines and University of the East, the Blue Eagles are such a well-oiled machine that they may even finish the elimination round with a perfect record or at best complete a rare four-peat.

Then, there's La Salle, a team that is up-and-down (mostly down) and hoping to snap a three-game losing skid.

It's been a difficult year for the Green Archers. Their offense has been inconsistent, their defense hasn't carried them unlike in the old days and then there's injuries and sickness. No wonder coach Dindo Pumaren is in hot water these days.

Their difference makes this latest battle between these two old rivals just another game.

There's been nothing special about this rivalry for the last year or two simply because of Ateneo's dominance.

Ateneo has beaten La Salle four of the last five meetings and the former won most of those games by double figures thanks to strong starts and several 15-20 point leads.

And that's what makes this rivalry predictable. La Salle just isn't competitive unlike in the old days where it's hard to predict a winner.

The characters from both sides we're interesting too.

There's Mark Cardona and Wesley Gonzales taking trash at each other.

There's Enrico Villanueva annoying La Salle fans with his antics and also ripping them with their post moves.

There's Carlos Sharma and Jerwin Gaco playing physical to the disgust of the Ateneo gallery.

And there's Renren Ritualo, Mike Cortez (except in Game 3 of the 2002 Finals), LA Tenorio and Larry Fonacier uncorking clutch shots.

It might take a while before this rivalry becomes competitive again. For now, fans from both sides will to settle with a one-sided game later at 3 p.m. unless the Archers pull off an stunning upset.

The first game of the doubleheader pits University of Santo Tomas and UE at 11 a.m. It's going to be an interesting match with the Tigers, led by Jeric Fortuna, Jeric Teng and Karim Abdul, aiming to increase their lead over La Salle and National University for the fourth spot in the standings although UE has been playing better recently despite a team is awful on paper.

UST versus UE used to be THE rivalry in the UAAP.

Veteran sportswriters, most them graduates of both schools, used to recall how great their rivalry was.

Before Ateneo and La Salle arrived, the then-Golden Glowies and the Red Warriors figured in numerous title clashes with the latter, mostly led by Robert Jaworski, winning most of their UAAP record seven consecutive titles from 1965-1971 (photo on the right taken from Video48) at the former's expense.

The last time they met in the championship was in 1985 when Allan Caidic and Jerry Codinera led UE to a win over the Pido Jarencio-led UST cagers. It was the 18th-and-last (to this date) for the Recto-based cagers.

The rivalry died around the 90's as UST won a four-peat and UE having an up-and-down decade. In 2006, the Tigers overcame a twice-to-beat disadvantage to stun the Warriors in the Final Four. Of course, everyone in Espana knew what happened after that.

Will UE and UST rekindle their rivalry someday? Unfortunately, it may take another generation for that to happen.

A streak ends in TOP and confusion in the UAAP

Yesterday was another one of those "lagare" days for this writer.

First order of business was to cover the Tournament of the Philippines seventh leg held at the Emilio Aguinaldo College gym where the M. Lhuillier Cebu Ninos took on the MP Gensan Warriors.

The Ninos enter the contest with a sense of invincibility with a remarkable 30-game winning streak that catapulted them to the Liga Pilipinas Conference III crown and two TOP leg crowns.

Most of the people who followed this joint tournament of the PBL and Liga expected Cebu to win again. However, the Warriors showed up and surprised everyone.

Center Christian Nicdao, known for his heydays with Far Eastern University in the UAAP in the late-90's and early-2000's, and ex-UE big man Angel Raymundo were able to contain the Cebu big men led by Marlon Basco, Ariel Mepana and Abby Santos, among others.

They led by 13 points on several occasions in the second quarter but as seen in numerous games, kung baga sisiw lang yan sa Ninos. That's because they're used to erasing big leads behind their pressure defense and eventually win those games by lopsided margins.

It looked as though Cebu was on the verge of doing such, erasing an 11-point halftime lead into around five to six points in the third period. But Gensan was just stubborn leaning on Nicdao, Raymundo and a lefty wingman in Jasper Callo and scoring guard John Gonzaga.

Bruce Dacia, who many could recall playing for the San Juan Knights in the defunct Metropolitan Basketball Association, eventually pulled the Ninos to 70-68 with five minutes left to play but a comeback was never to be.

Guard Jonathan Parreno also entered the fray knocked two crucial triples that put the Warriors away and score a knockout victory over the Cebuano cagers.

Gensan won, 77-72, and Cebu's streak came to an end. From the far end, Ninos assistant Willie Generalao gestured this writer like he was saying, "ganun talaga e." On the nearest end are the Warriors jumping for joy after hacking out a breakthrough win.

The Warriors aren't a great team on paper, lots of unknown names who reside from the Gensan-Sarangani area with some living in Davao, but they play tough every game, giving opponents such as Cebu and PBL teams Cobra, Ani-FCA and Ascof Lagundi a hard time.

Then it was off to the Big Dome.

After seeing the end of a remarkable end in the TOP, it was confusion in the UAAP, particularly the UP Fighting Maroons.

Reports say that Aboy Castro is no longer the coach and that ex-Sta Lucia Realty coach Boyet Fernandez, who was hired as consultant over the weekend, was appointed as his successor.

UP lost 87-81 to University of Santo Tomas in overtime no thanks to a late foul by Mike Silungan with three seconds left that enabled Jeric Teng to hit one freethrow that tied the game at 69-all and UP College of Human Kinetics dean Leilani Gonzalo clarified that....

"Coach Aboy Castro informed us two days ago (Wednesday) that he will go on indefinite leave and assistant coach Potit de Vera will be interim coach," said Gonzalo.

Yes, de Vera, according to tweet and fellow sportswriters coached most of the first half but upon arrival, the former FEU-FERN Baby Tams mentor was standing but near the rear end of the Maroons bench.

And near the scorer's table is Fernandez calling most of the plays like he was steering the Realtors to the 2008 PBA Philippine Cup crown with Kelly Williams, Marlou Aquino and Dennis Espino around.

"No comment," Gonzalo said followed by a laugh when asked if Fernandez is part in the selection with regards to appointment of coaches.

If UP officials claim that Fernandez is still the consultant, then it's quite odd to see a consultant acting like he was the coach.

During one timeout, it was visibly seen on television screens that Fernandez mapped out the plays and even called the shots in inserting players like Silungan, Magi Sison (who played well for the Maroons) and Martin Reyes.

And when the horn sounded, Fernandez consoled a dejected Reyes and gave a few words of encouragement and then during the singing of the UST alma matter song, called a team huddle perhaps saying a few good things to say from this loss.

Those events can say that the former PBA guard, who had stints with Sta Lucia, Pop Cola and Purefoods, is truly the lead man for State U.

Assistant coach Jerry Codinera, who spoke to the media (Fernandez refused to comment) and claimed that for now it will be them (the assistant coaches) and Fernandez (consultant) who will handle the team.

"It's us and coach Boyet who will handle the team for now," said Codinera. "Kami naman, we'll just pitch in and give some inputs and since consultant si coach Boyet, he can also say his thoughts."

It's a PR dilemma for the Maroons at this point. More confusion means more speculation, no thanks to conflicting statements and a dubious decision to make at this early part of the UAAP season.

Abangan na lang kung anu susunod na kabanata.

UAAP Game Notes: July 22, 2010

Some interesting trivia from the UAAP games held earlier. Thanks to Imperium Technology's Pong Ducanes for some of the interesting facts posted here.

UST def. UP, 87-81 (OT)

- The Growling Tigers registered their seventh straight win over the Fighting Maroons since the first round of the 2007 season.

- The last time UP won was a 70-67 win on August 31, 2006 in what would coach Joe Lipa's second to last victory in his second tour of duty with the Diliman-based squad. UST would eventually won the championship that season.

- Jeric Fortuna's eight three-pointers was the most since UAAP statistics were computerized in 2003.

- Apparently, it was the most since National University's Jeff Napa uncorked 10 against La Salle in 2001. Napa, who also had a stint as the school's television courtside reporter a year after, is now the team's assistant coach and mentor of the NU Bullpups in the juniors division.

- Fortuna became the first guard to score 29 points since La Salle's JV Casio, now a member of the Smart Gilas-RP team, did it against UST on August 28, 2008. Fortuna was then a rookie for the Tigers.

- It is also by far the highest single-game scoring output by any player this season.

- UST converted 16 threes, tying Adamson for most triples made since the league began to computerize statistics in 2003. The Falcons did that against NU on September 7, 2006.

FEU def. UE, 91-81

- The Tamaraws beat the Red Warriors for just the third time in the last 11 outings or since the first round of the 2006 season.

- The Tamaraws go 3-0 for the first time since winning the championship in 2005. That team was led by current San Miguel Beermen Arwind Santos, that season's eventual Most Valuable Player.

- UE assistant coaches Elmer Espiritu, Val Acuna and Rudy Lingganay arrived late after the trio played for Cobra Energy Drink against Ani-FCA in a Tournament of the Philippines seventh leg game at the Emilio Aguinaldo College gym in Manila. The Ironmen won, 82-80, on a game-winning basket by ex-UE teammate Pari Llagas.

- UE's Lawrence Chongson has lost five of his last six games as coach dating back to Game 1 of last year's finals series with Ateneo.