Ateneo Blue Eagles Beat NU Bulldogs in UAAP 74 Basketball Game: Kiefer Ravena Wins Best Player of the Game Award

Photo from GMAnews.tv

Coming into their first game against each other earlier today in UAAP Season 74, all eyes are on Kiefer Ravena and Bobby Ray Parks Jr.. They both played well in the game earlier. I have to take my hats off these two ballers. But unfortunately, the game wasn't an epic one because the Blue Eagles overpowered the weaker bench of the NU Bulldogs en route to beating them via a large margin of 24 points. The final score was 86 to 62.

The Blue Eagles used their well balanced offense and suffocating full court defense against the one man show or let's now say the 2-man show of NU, with Mbe backing up Bobby Ray Parks Jr.. If I remembered it well, 6 players of the Ateneo (Tiongson, Salva, Erram, Sumalinog, Long, and Monfort) scored at least 6 points each, all in all that's already an instant 36 points. Add to that 36 points the combined output of Greg Slaughter and Kiefer Ravena which stood at 28 points. Their scoring was just too much for the Bulldogs.

In the 1st quarter, Ateneo exploded with a 10 to nothing run that NU failed to match, probably because coach Norman Black placed his defense minister, Kirk Long to stop the main offensive source of NU, Bobby Ray Parks (BRP). Kirk did a great job in defending against the scorer of NU. Long's on ball defense against the lefty BRP. Kiefer Ravena and Greg Slaughter on the other hand led the offensive attack for the blue and white. The initial score in the first quarter was 14 to 5 in favor of Ateneo. It was because of their 10 to nothing run. But BRP pushed himself to the limit against Long. He was able to break free from that gum-like defense of Long to sink a three pointer that sparked a 5 to 0 NU run that trimmed down Ateneo's lead to 5 points, 16 to 11 at the end of the 1st quarter.

In the 2nd quarter, Ateneo's great defense limited the NU Bulldogs to just 9 points while they on the other hand scored 22 big points all in all which came from several different sources. Salva, Slaughter and Sumalinog were the heroes of this quarter. At the end of the 2nd quarter the score was 38-20.

In the half time break, the commentators discussed the half time stats. Here are they:



You can see how Ateneo dominated NU in all aspects of the game.

And here are the leading scorers in the first half for both of the teams.



In the 3rd quarter, NU's scoring center, Emmanuel Mbe received his 3rd and 4th personal fouls. NU's coach, Eric Altamirano was forced to pull out Mbe. He fielded in the younger brother of Alaska's Samige Eman to replace Mbe. That was the signal that Kiefer Ravena, Greg Slaughter and Juami Tiongson were waiting. Ravena and Slaughter increased their individual outputs. Juami Tiongson on the other hand made back breaking three pointer that increased the lead of Ateneo to 25 points, 49-24. But one of NU's prized recruit during the summer, Gelo Alolino made an impressive 4-point play with 2 minutes and 45 seconds left on the 3rd quarter. But unfortunately, his 4-point play didn't inspire his teammates, it only heightened Ateneo's conviction to blow the game wide open. NU can't pin point where the offense of Ateneo will come. All of a sudden it was Juami "Magic" Tiongson who uncorked a buzzer beating three pointer that gave Ateneo a 32 point lead, 69-37 at the end of the third quarter.

In the 4th quarter, Ateneo's lead was just too much to handle for the Bulldogs. It gave coach Norman Black the luxury to field in his bench players, namely, BJ Cipriano, Von Pessumal, Jeric Estrada, and Gwyne Capacio. All of them scored except Cipriano and Estrada. The final buzzer suddenly sounded and the final score was 86-62.

Greg Slaughter led the Blue Eagles in scoring with 15 points while Ravena added 13 points. Kiefer was named as the PS Bank Maaasahan Best Player of the Game. I would also like to mention Nico Salva who has been under the radar for the Ateneo. He pitched in 12 important points in this game. These 3 led Ateneo over NU who only have have Mbe and Parks on the scoring end. Parks ended the game with MVP like numbers, 20 points and 6 rebounds.

Here are the scores courtesy of Inbounpass.com.

The scores:

Ateneo 86 – Slaughter 15, Ravena 13, Salva 12, Long 11, Sumalinog 7, Monfort 7, Erram 6, Tiongson 6, Capacio 2, Gonzaga 2, Chua 2, Austria 2, Pessumal 1, Cipriano 0, Estrada 0, Golla 0

NU 62 – Parks 20, Alolino 11, Mbe 10, Celda 7, Javillonar 6, Celiz 2, Khobuntin 2, Magat 2, Labing-isa 1, Terso 1, Villamor 0, Roño 0, Eman 0, Ignacio 0

Quarter scoring: 16-11, 38-20, 69-37, 86-62