Ateneo Forces Sudden Death vs La Salle
Chris Tiu, who has won key ballgames for Ateneo in the past, lifted the Eagles again in a game they could not afford to lose, scoring five of the team’s last seven points for a heart-stopping, come-from-behind 65-64 victory over the La Salle Archers in the 70th UAAP men’s basketball tournament.
Practically half of the close to 20,000 fans at the Araneta Coliseum rose as one and pumped the air in glee after Tiu squeezed through a phalanx of La Salle defenders with the clock ticking to its last seven seconds and the game – and Ateneo’s season – on the line.
He made it with the twinner capping a spectacular 7-0 Ateneo windup and proving to be the marginal basket as Fil-Bahraini Bader Malabes overshot a triple from the left side as time expired, forcing a sudden death for the second final berth.
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Tiu, limited to just a point and had five turnovers in the first half, uncorked 13 points in the last two quarters, including a booming triple in the closing minute of the fourth that brought the Eagles back into the contest and a driving lay-up that could go down as one of the most courageous shots ever taken in a knockout game.
The thrilling win thus sent the Ateneo-La Salle rivalry this season to a climactic fifth and deciding game on Sunday with the winner facing a well-rested University of the East, which swept its way to the finals with 14 straight wins, in a best-of-three series. Gametime is at
It also marked the third time that the Eagles and Archers are facing each other five times in one season after the two played that far when the latter won in 2001 and the former ruled the 2002 season.
Ateneo won their first two encounters this season, an 80-77 overtime win last July 26, and an 89-87 triumph last Sept. 9 before La Salle snared a 70-69 win last Sept. 18 to clinch the No. 2 spot and the twice-to-beat advantage.
“We definitely did something wrong in this game, I have to see the tapes first. But the most important thing here is that the players showed the will to win because we really wanted to fight and play one more game on Sunday,” said Black.
Ty Tang had a 23-point effort, including a jumper with two and a half minutes to go that gave the Archers a 63-58 advantage. But Tiu’s endgame exploits relegated the brilliant Archers’ guard to the background.
La Salle sat on a 64-58 cushion on a JV Casio split, which turned out to be the Archers’ last point in the highly charged contest as Tiu drained the trey and delivered that gem of a basket after Ford Arao’s came away with an equally crucial, shot-clock beating side jumper.
The Archers actually had 7.3 seconds to steal the win but Malabes, who hit a triple in the first quarter, missed on a desperation try.
Arao, a strong candidate for the Most Improved Player award, led the Eagles with 19 points and two shot blocks, including 10 of his team’s first 11 points. More importantly, he kept the Eagles in the game when Tiu couldn’t find his rhythm in the early going.
And when Tiu did, the Eagles began to soar.
Hanging on at 64-63,
Heavily guarded, Tiu faked a three-point shot, dribbled and drove past a couple of defenders and then hit the biggest shot of the game.
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