La Salle suffered its worst beating of the season at the hands of Ateneo 57-74 today. After leading by 5 early in the ballgame, the Green Archers struggled offensively against the zone defense put up by Ateneo. Long led the Blue Eagles’ offensive onslaught in the first quarter that enabled them to erect a huge 18-point lead by halftime. The pulled away for good in the second half as their lead went as high as 25 points at one point and the closest the Archers could get was within 14. Long led Ateneo with 22 points.
The Archers’ game today was really bad, like a complete 180 from how they played in their last game against UP. They showed a lot of tentativeness especially during Ateneo’s scoring run and this affected their execution all throughout the match. The team’s perimeter scoring was shut down by the good defense put up by the Eagles. Only Jovet was the sole bright spot as he fought valiantly despite the huge deficit. He led the team with 20 markers but he didn’t get enough support from his teammates offensively. Overall, the team didn’t show the energy that could have made today’s contest somewhat interesting.
Though they dropped to 6-4, anything can still happen for the Archers with 4 games left in their elimination round schedule. They are currently at 4th spot with a 2-game lead over NU (4-6).
Let’s see how the Green Archers will respond to this disappointing loss.
Box Scores
DLSU 57 – Mendoza 20, Villanueva 7, Andrada 6, Tampus 5, Tolentino 5, Atkins 5, Marata 4, de la Paz 3, Webb 2, Vosotros 0, Paredes 0, Elorde 0, Ferdinand 0, Banal 0.
Ateneo 74 – Long 22, dela Cruz 10, Buenafe 9, Salva 9, Monfort 7, Salamat 6, Golla 6, Austria 3, Escueta 2, Chua 2, Erram 0, Tiongson 0.
Quarter scoring: 19-11, 39-21, 61-40, 74-57.