Ateneo vs FEU for PCCL crown

The FEU Tamaraws and the Ateneo Blue Eagles arranged an all-UAAP finals on Wednesday after upending separate foes last Dec 7 in the Final Four of the 2009 Philippine Collegiate Champions League at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig.

In the curtain-raiser, the Tamaraws stunned the reigning NCAA champion San Sebastian Stags in a thrilling 86-83 overtime victory while the Blue Eagles played without hesitation against San Beda for an 81-69 victory to enter the PCCL finals for the third straight year.

The best-of-three finals series will start on Wednesday.

Playmaker Ryan Garcia did major damage to the Stags’ quest to enter the Finals as he tallied an MVP-like numbers of 28 points, five rebounds, six assists and six steals, enough to fill in the void left by their ace guard Mark Barroca a couple of months ago.

“Grabe ang pinapakitang character ng players ko ngayon. They’re matured. Di din sila bumitaw[like nung game naming versus UE] at niremind ko lang silang lahat ng mag-focus and wag intindihin ang tawag ng refs," said FEU coach Glenn Capacio.

"Hopefully this time magchampion na kami. Alam naming malakas ang Ateneo and San Beda, pero sana makuha namin [ang championship]," he added.

Oping Sumalinog had a breakout game with 14 points and seven rebounds and was supported by Jai Reyes and Eric Salamat, combining for 28 points and ten boards as the Blue Eagles try to arrange the memory of losing to La Salle in last year’s one-game finale.

Ateneo played without their starting center Rabeh Al-Hussaini who is currently in the line-up of the RP Smart-Gilas Developmental Team under Serbian Coach Rajko Toroman. Al-Hussaini also missed the team's two previous games against Lyceum and UST.

“We’re hoping to play a little bit better in the Finals. We’re still not complete but we’ll just do the best we can against FEU[in the Finals]," said Ateneo coach Norman Black.

10 of the 15 points scored by the Tams in the extra period all came from Garcia including back-to-back triples and a go-ahead basket for an 84-83 lead before the Morayta-based squad stop the Stags in the dying seconds to take the win.

"Impressive numbers ang ginawa ni Garcia pero kailangan pa ipolish ang freethrow shooting nya," said Capacio.

It was a sorry loss for the Recto-based squad after a convincing demolition job they completed on the Letran Knights last Friday in the Elite 8 round and were hoping to meet Ateneo in a dream showdown between the two champion teams from the UAAP and NCAA.

From the tipoff, the Stags struggled from the field with Pamboy Raymundo being the only bright spot tallying 10 points and six rebounds in the first half of action.

The Tamaraws held the Stags scoreless for over seven minutes from late in the first period until the opening minutes of the second quarter where Calvin Abueva scored the first basket for the Recto quintet at the 7:33 mark. The Tamaraws’ biggest lead of the game stood at 14, 25-11 early in the 2nd period.

Rookie Coach Ato Agustin was slapped a technical foul for the first time in his budding coaching career after Raymundo was hacked in the head by Paul Sanga during the second period. This perhaps later caused a near postgame fracas between the two players before cooler heads prevailed.

The Stags grabbed the lead for the first time in the third period with a short-jumper coming from rookie Ronald Pascual, 40-39. The Stags further extended their lead to six, 52-46, and later took an eight-point lead with under four minutes left in the game.

But after FEU pulled within two points, Garcia crucial split from the line proved costly for the Tamaraws and with the game almost slipping from their hands.

However, he redeemed himself by scoring with 21.6 seconds to go in regulation that put FEU in front, 71-69, only for a picture-perfect alley-oop play from Jimbo Aquino to Ronald Pascual tied the count at 71-all forcing an extra five minute extension.

Meanwhile, the Blue Eagles, who had control majority of the game, sent San Beda to a back-to-back third place quest against the San Sebastian Stags who lost earlier to the FEU Tamaraws.

The Red Lions played minus American import Sudan Daniel and Borgie Hermida and the Blue Eagles stamped authority the entire game only trailing the first ten minutes of action.

Garvo Lanete led the Red Lions with 15 points, three rebounds and three assists while Bambam Gamalinda almost had another double-double performance tallying 13 points and nine rebounds

The scores:

First Game

FEU 86 – Garcia 28, Cervantes 18, Cawaling 14, Ramos 7, Exciminiano 7, Knuttel 4, Noundou 4, Vinluan 2, Sanga 2, Guerrero 0.

SSC-R 83—Aquino 23, Pascual 16, Del Rio 12, Raymundo 12, Abueva 9, Sangalang 7, Maconocido 4, Semira 0, Najorda 0, Bulawan 0.

Quarters: 20-11, 33-31, 53-55, 71-72(reg), 86-83 (OT).

Second Game

ADMU 81 – Sumalinog 14, Reyes 14, Salamat 14, Buenafe 13, Baclao 11, Salva 8, Long 5, Golla 2, Gonzaga 0, Chua 0, Austria 0, Tiongson 0, Monfort 0.

San Beda 69 – Lanete 15, Gamalinda 13, Dela Rosa 12, Caram 8, Marcelo 7, Tecson 5, Villanueva 3, Sorela 2, Lim 2, Pascual 2.

Quarters: 12-18, 39-34, 58-53, 81-69.