Eagles buck sloppy finish, force do-or-die

MANILA, Philippines - Defending champion Ateneo pulled through in an erratic endgame, outlasting San Sebastian, 56-51, to force a rubber match for the 2011 Philippine Collegiate Champions League (PCCL) title at The Arena in San Juan yesterday.

The Eagles struggled with only one field goal and fell into a spate of errors in the fourth quarter, squandering a seven-point lead before Nico Salva gave them the lift from the stripe and Oping Sumalinog shackled SSC gunner Calvin Abueva to deny the twice-to-beat Stags the crown.

The sudden death is set Thursday.

“The game was not very pretty but as a coach, I mean, you take it any way you can get it. At least it took us to a position wherein we can win the championship again,” said Ateneo mentor Norman Black, obviously drained and relieved after keeping their quest for a three-peat in the PCCL alive and kicking.

“I’m happy we won. It’s not very often you have what I call a defensive struggle wherein neither team can score, both teams turning the ball over, and I guess we just outlasted them in the end,” he said.

The Eagles shot 20 of 57 from the floor (35.1percent) and committed 26 turnovers, which the Stags actually converted to 22 markers. The Stags didn’t do any better with 22-of-71 FG (31percent) and 22 errors, leading to 11 T.O. points for Ateneo.

Black said Ateneo couldn’t handle the zone defense of SSC with its poor perimeter shooting, and only forward Salva made strides with 18 markers on 7-of-10 marksmanship from two-point area.

“Nico normally plays that high-post position against the zone defense and he got a lot of points in that area today. That’s the weakness of the zone and Nico operates very, very well from that position. He produced scores on a day when everybody else struggled and he made a big difference for us in this game offensively,” said Black.

Sumalinog was tapped to put the cuffs on Abueva (16 points), limiting “the Beast” to one point (a foul throw) in the last 3:49. He even forced the SSC star to lose ball possession in a sequence that led to Abueva’s fouling out and a technical foul for banging the referee in protest.

“I thought we have to put a bigger, longer guy (on Abueva) because he’s athletic and very long... I don’t think you really can stop Calvin; the best thing you can do is try to control him a little bit. But he still got 16 points,” said Black.

Meanwhile, San Beda bucked the 24-point, 24-rebound performance of University of Cebu’s behemoth June Mar Fajardo in hacking out an 82-69 win over the Webmasters to finish third.

Rome dela Rosa fired 21 points, including 10 in the fourth that helped the Lions douse cold water on the Webmasters’ comeback bid, along with seven rebounds, as the reigning NCAA champs ended their campaign on a high note.

Mar Villahermosa added 14 markers and five assists to fill in for injured starter Garvo Lanete (shoulder injury), one of key SBC players missing along with Jake Pascual (bum stomach) and the Semerad twins, Anthony and DJ, who left the team after their NCAA triumph.

Dave Marcelo and Kyle Pascual took turns trying who hound the 6-9 Fajardo, who still made 10 of his 17 attempts and grabbed nearly half of UC’s 52-rebound output in 38 minutes of action.

Brian Heruela chipped in 20 markers, including 10 in the payoff period where UC clawed back to within six (65-71) from a high of 11. He also had nine boards and four assists.

For placing third place, San Beda got P100,000 for the school and another P100,000 for members of the Red Lions team. UC netted P50,000 for the school and an extra P50,000 for the squad.