By Diego de la Paz
SAN JUAN, Philippines (Eagle News) – Ateneo de Manila University and Arellano University bolstered its respective quarterfinal bids with all-important wins in Friday’s Filoil Flying V Hanes Pre-Season Premier Cup action at the Filoil Flying V Centre.
The Blue Eagles, playing its second of three consecutive matches in four days, scored a 65-58 win over National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) squad Lyceum of the Philippines University.
Thirdy Ravena led the Ateneo’s triumph, scoring 15 points with eight rebounds, with rookie big man Tyler Tio adding 10 and Aaron Black contributing eight. Ateneo now moves up to 3-1 (won-lost) ahead of its rivalry match against De La Salle this Sunday.
Ateneo Head Coach Sandy Arrespacochaga said that they had a hard time against the gritty LPU side, getting outhustled in the rebounding department and allowing the Pirates to grab nine offensive rebounds which resulted to 11 second-chance points.
“I think that’s a good learning experience for us to control the boards more,” said Arrespacochaga. “We got some fairly good performances from some of our players, and we wanted to see how good they played with more minutes. They will continue to improve and that’s the important thing.”
Hary Nzeusseau finished with 16 points, 10 rebounds, and one blocked shot to top all scorers for LPU, with Jesper Ayaay adding 12 and Wilson Baltazar having 10 points in a losing cause. The Pirates fell to 1-5 (won-lost).
Earlier, Arellano University leaned on the backcourt tandem of Donald Gumaru and Kent Salado to outsteady University of the Philippines, 75-61.
Salado, who took the place of Jiovanni Jalalon as the lead point guard, finished with 11 points, seven rebounds, and five assists. Gumaru, on the other hand, had 12 points with five rebounds in a balanced scoring effort that saw all but one of the 14 players put up points on the board.
The duo neutralized the effort of Dave Moralde, who scored 15 points to lead the Fighting Maroons. Paul Desiderio and Diego Dario added 11 and 10, respectively.
Arellano University Head Coach Jerry Codiñera said that the team continued to play well because of Salado’s efforts in relief of Jalalon, who is in Thailand due to national team duties.
“Siguro dahil sa status namin ngayon na nakapasok na kami sa quarterfinals and from what I’ve watched in the UAAP, UP always starts strong,” said Codiñera. “Hindi rin kami naging aggressive from the start. Unti-unti na lang namin tinrabaho.”
Meanwhile, Jerrick Fabian and Alvin Capobres bucked the loss of stars Michael Calisaan and Rhanzelle Yong to lead San Sebastian College past a short-handed Perpetual Help side, 80-70, in an all-NCAA match in Group A.
Calisaan suffered a freak motorcycle accident that broke his jaw, while Yong suffered a season-ending anterior cruciate ligament injury on his knee that severely depleted their lineup. Perpetual Help, on the other hand, did not have foreign reinforcements Bright Akhuetie and Prince Eze for the match. (With Franchesca Lim and Marco Oliveros)