For your white and blue...

Yesterday, the Ateneo Blue Eagles suffered a loss with a big-margin of deficit. What’s worse is that we lost to our beloved arch-rivals (beloved arch-rivals?!), the De La Salles Archers. All along I thought it was going to be a close battle considering that the Eagles have the height advantage.

However, I was wrong. The Eagles had a great start, with sophomore big man Japeth Aguilar (he’s 6’8 by the way) blocking shots at will. I think he made three straight blocks with just 3 minutes of game play. He’s a promising youngster, indeed. However, after player rotations made by Coach Norman Black in his Blue Eagles coaching debut, the team went bananas. Turnovers here and there, missed baskets, and worse, loss their defense.

They totally lost it after the first quarter. At the end of the second quarter, Ateneo was down by 30 points. Yes, thirty points… Luckily, the Eagles managed to cut the deficit to 18 points, and foiled the Archers’ attempt to pose a new record for highest lead over the Eagles. The biggest lead posted by La Salle over Ateneo was by 24 points, with final score 74-50. Wow, at least they somehow saved our faces from utter humiliation. Mike Enriquez can again brag this big win to Chino Trinidad over the morning radio show. We will be hearing the La Salle Anthem again over DZBB...

What I thought the players lacked yesterday was the leadership they once saw in Enrico Villanueva, Rich Alvarez, and Larry Fonacier. LA Tenorio, being one of the last remnants of the 2002 UAAP Championship Team, should step up and give their team the leadership they need. As what TJ Manotoc said, it’s about time that LA should dominate the court. There is no one left to lead but him.

Also, when I saw the players’ rotation, I thought maybe Coach Norman is still feeling the team. He used all of his players Yesterday, even rookies Laterre, Reyes, and Al-Usaini (did I speel this correctly?). I think he’s still in the process of looking for combinations and tandems to jell in the offense, and the right men to bring out tough defense. However, as what my colleague in the public sector and a co-fan of the Blue Eagles, you shouldn’t experiment in an Ateneo-La Salle spectacle.

Well, I hope the Eagles learned an important lesson yesterday. Until the next Ateneo-La Salle game… Fabilioh!!!