Opening Day Obliteration

First, the good news: Ateneo won't have to face La Salle again until about a month from now. Second year center Japeth Aguilar had a stellar defensive game, blocking shots left and right. It's only the first game of the 68th season of the UAAP, and there are thirteen more regular season games to be played. And, the Ateneo basketball team don't have anywhere to go but up.

Now the bad news. In what can best be described as a mismatch of indescribable proportions, the defending UAAP champion De La Salle Green Archers destroyed an overmatched and erratic Ateneo Blue Eagle team 78-60 at the Araneta Coliseum. In what was supposed to be a promising start to Norman Black's tenure as head coach, the Blue Eagles couldn't buy a bucket in the second quarter, and completely collapsed in the face of La Salle's defense.

After watching Adamson and NU light up the scoreboard in a high-scoring contest, both the Eagles and Archers then had to endure a long and drawn out product launch of a new automobile before they could even warm up. The packed Araneta crowd was getting anxious and each side could clearly be heard screaming for the game to start. When hostilities finally commenced, it seemed as if the archrivals were going to duke it out in a classic befitting the long history together.

Japeth Aguilar, J.C. Intal, and Doug Kramer were defensively dominant in the paint as Ateneo displayed their superior height. On the green side, point guard T.Y. Tang took up the early scoring cudgels vacated by Mac Cardona's departure for the pro ranks. The game was close… and then the second quarter happened.

The term "blitzkrieg" was used by the Germans in World War II to describe their attack. It literally translates into "lightning warfare". For La Salle, lightning struck time after time after time in the second canto, completely overwhelming the Eagles and effectively silencing the blue and white gallery. An amazing 16-0 run (capped by four three triples from J-vee Casio) eventually gave the Archers the biggest lead of the game, a whopping 33 points. Halftime saw the score at 50-20 in favor of the green and white, and left Ateneans everywhere scratching their collective heads. Not even the use of the entire Ateneo bench (including rookies Zion Laterre, Jai Reyes, and Rabeh Al-Hussaini) could wake up the Ateneo offense.

Yet when the second half began, hope was still evident from the blue side of the Araneta. If La Salle could build up a lead in one half, perhaps we could come back from that deficit in that span as well. Sadly, all the Eagles could muster was cutting into the lead. L.A. Tenorio couldn't get his offensive game in gear, J.C. Intal became tentative in the low block, while Magnum Membrere couldn't get his rifle on target. Big men Ford Arao and Doug Kramer kept looking for fouls to go their way, even though they were in bad positions to make any offensive moves. Timely jumpers and lay-ups from Jun Cabatu quelled every Eagle mini-rally. That, plus the stifling Archer defense and pinpoint La Salle passing virtually choked the life out of the Hail Mary quintet. Life after Mac Cardona? Perfectly fine for "Gang Green."

Mercifully, the game ended 78-60, finally ending the torture for the Ateneo. Despite the insulting actions of the Archer mascot as the "Song for Mary" played, we applaud La Salle for their completely dominant performance. The defending champions proved that, for now, the blue and white are not yet in their class. With UST looming on the horizon this coming Saturday, Coach Norman and his staff have to find out what went so horribly wrong on this dark Sunday afternoon. The Eagles now have to focus on one thing: redemption.