Looking at the weekend's UAAP Final Four games

MANILA, Philippines – And then there were four…. Or three.

The University of the Philippines stunned Adamson, 73-71, to take Game One of their Final Four series while the Ateneo Blue Eagles booked a 13th UAAP finals trip with an 80-61 demolition of FEU.

Here are our thoughts about the two games over the past weekend (November 24 and 25):

Adamson is in a rut

The Falcons have lost five of their last eight matches. Have they peaked? Are do they have a second wind in the offing?

Whatever it is, they have to flat-out play their best in a do-or-die match this Wednesday against the streaking Fighting Maroons. UP got the crucial inside bucket from Bright Akhuetie for a 42-40 advantage in inside points. It is slim but it was the deciding factor.

We have pointed out Adamson’s lack of consistency especially when it comes to their bench since the middle of the first round. Granted Jerrick Ahanmisi struggled against UP, others should still step up. You cannot have Sean Manganti and Papi Sarr only doing well. The shorter rotation means you need the main guys stepping up. And they need to hit some shots from the outside. They hit 1 of 22 three-point attempts.

Head coach Franz Pumaren was saying that as bad as they played, they only lost by two points. Maybe he likes their fourth quarter comeback when they scored 28 points. I guess they are looking for anything positive at this point. Not sure how much they can spin that, but it is still a loss. No one will remember their stand or losing only by two. The fact is UP won.

UP is riding a hot streak

What a win. There were shades of that Macky Escalona to Doug Kramer to help Ateneo take Game One of the 2006 UAAP Finals versus UST. And now UP is on the cusp of its first finals berth since 1986.

What I liked about their win was how they kept their head above water when Adamson made a game of it. And what a luxury it is to have a top scorer in Paul Desiderio starting then Juan Gomez De Liaño coming off the bench. You sustain that effort while Bright Akhuetie — even if he did only score six points, including the game-winner — is steady.

I cannot stress enough the importance of Akhuetie. He is a proven player dating back to his NCAA days. He is a total team player and a smart one too.

But for UP to win again, they will need their Big Three of Akhuetie, Desiderio and Juan Gomez De Liaño (as they did in the last play) to perform well. Now, flush with confidence, who is betting against them?

Ateneo is flashing that deadly summer form

The Blue Eagles have found their groove and have flashed that deadly form that made them the consensus favorites to win it all. 

Ateneo repeatedly attacked that basket with Thirdy Ravena setting the tone with back-to-back dunks. 

The ball movement was superb and the offense — at least for the first 33 minutes — was devastating. And for the most part, Ateneo didn’t step off the gas pedal (well, until the bench didn’t perform well late in the game).

FEU was held to an average of 12 points for the first three quarters. They only did well in the fourth when Ateneo emptied its bench.

Ateneo played flat-out great defense. The Tams hardly had daylight. The glimmer of hope came early after Ken Tuffin and Arvin Tolentino hit triples from either side of the corner pocket to slice Ateneo’s lead, 10-6. But that was it.

When Angelo Kouame chased down to block FEU’s RJ Ramirez, who was ahead by several paces, I thought of two things. What a rim protector and two, this must how La Sallians felt when Ben Mbala chased down Mike Nieto and blocked him in Season 80. 

Again, on the defensive end, only four FEU players did well shooting-wise. Barkley Eboña (3/4), LJ Gonzales (3/3), Alec Stockton (2/3) and Arvin Tolentino (2/4). But even that is misleading. Tolentino was shut down and battled foul trouble. Furthermore, he doesn’t take four shots a game. He takes much more than that so four field goal attempts isn’t what FEU had in mind. Stockton was thrown out for a disqualifying foul. As for Eboña, more on him later.

It was Ateneo at its ruthless best. And now they are back in the finals.

That was a crushing loss for FEU

They had a team that could have won it all. Unfortunately for them, they ran into some bad luck during the season. Tolentino was suspended for three matches. Prince Orizu got hurt. And that put a damper on their second round campaign. And now they are losing all these veterans who carried them these past two, three, years in Tolentino, Orizu (unless he decides to play one more year; I think he still has a year left), RJ Ramirez, Jasper Parker, Richard Escoto and Axel Iñigo. That’s a lot. 

But what a painful moment of déjà vu for them. There were a few players on FEU’s 2010 squad (that lost to Ateneo in the finals) present at the Big Dome for the game — RR Garcia, Terrence Romeo, Achie Iñigo, Roger Pogoy and Gryann Mendoza. Now that team defeated Ateneo in their two elims matches yet come the finals, they were destroyed. In Game One, they were blown off the court, 72-49, with Emman Monfort putting the clamps on Garcia, the league MVP, and in Game Two, Ryan Buenafe sunk them with a killer three, 65-62. 

And now, the memory of their scintillating first round win… is but a memory.

Back to Eboña. 

I was surprised that he played only 16 minutes. He gave Ateneo fits early in the game. Why didn’t he play alongside with Orizu, who was mostly ineffective (well, he just got back from an injury and isn’t 100 percent)? Why was Orizu sent to the bench when Kouame went to the bench? I thought that he should have stayed in the game because he was sorely needed to reduce that deficit. 

It is a painful loss. And now they head into the off-season in a rebuilding mode. But there’s no shame for this team. They did their community proud.