Ateneo makes La Salle green with envy

Ateneo, without slotman Rabeh Al-Hussaini who was forced to sit down due to a left ankle injury, withstood the gallant stand put up by its arch-rival De La Salle to win, 76-72, in overtime on Sunday at the Big Dome in another classic match between the country's top basketball rivals. "This is a hard fought victory," said Ateneo coach Norman Black after the match that was tied seven times and watched live at the Araneta Coliseum by 15,707 spectators. "I am very happy that the players answered the call after half time," added Black, who noted that his boys defended well in the last two periods and in overtime before knocking down the victory. Ateneo found itself behind in the game due to the pulsating first half game of the Green Archers, who got a season-high 26 points from Joshua Webb. Webb, though, could also be liable as the main reason why Ateneo was able to scrape past the De La Salle team. Webb was whistled for an unsportmanlike foul on Raymond Austria after kicking the Ateneo point guard while both were down on the floor with 3:50 remaining in the fourth. While the two exchanged words, Webb's teammate Simon Atkins tried to heat up the fight between the two that resulted in the referee likewise giving him an unsportsmanlike foul for taunting. That skirmish livened the fight for Ateneo and after Austria split the charities awarded to him, Erik Salamat scored on a trey, giving Ateneo a 60-57 lead with 3:33 ticks left. However, the Archers fought back hard and after several exchanges with Ateneo holding a 67-64 lead, Hyram Bagatsing unleashed his only trey of the match to force the overtime. "Even before I coached Ateneo, I know by watching the Ateneo-De La Salle fight that the Archers are a very tough team to fight," noted Black. "It matters not which is the best team, what matters is which team wins." And on Sunday, Ateneo put one anew in their head-to-head match against De La Salle as Ryan Buenafe, Nonoy Baclao, Austria and Nico Salva salvaged the win for the Katipunan-based squad. A 7-2 run in the extension which Buenafe, Baclao, Austria and Salva put together was all Ateneo needed to outlast the Archers, who are now tied for the third to fifth spots with idle Santo Tomas and University of the East, which earlier absorbed another 76-72 defeat at the hands of host Far Eastern U. UST, UE and De La Salle all have posted 4-3 cards. Ateneo is now tied for the lead with FEU with their similar 6-1 slates as both teams ended the first round of eliminations on a winning note. Black is preparing for their second round campaign which will start on Thursday against University of the East. "We are where we want to be after the first round," Black said. "It is a good thing that we lost to UP early in the season. That provided us the opportunity to refresh our strategy and our game plan." "I am also looking forward to seeing Al-Hussaini to immediately come out of the injury list," added Black. "We need him although I expect other players to step up for him." Al-Hussaini hurt his left ankle with over six minutes left in regulation and never came back. -GMANews.TV