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VOL. 1 NO. 2 AUGUST 17-30, 2011VOL. 1 NO. 4• AUGUST 26-31, 2011

KIRK Long JARELAN Tampus

SCORPIO

NORMANBlackNORMANBlack

DINDOPumarenDINDOPumaren



2 AUGUST 26-31, 2011

Different directionsCoach Norman Black has

been utilizing an almost pla-toon-method of substitution which saw a more grinding, de-fense-oriented five take to thefloor before the second quarterto mixed results in the firstround. But now backup big manJustin Chua seems to have got-ten his shot and confidenceback and whirligig guard Toni-no Gonzaga has added aperimeter jumper to his in-your-

face defense, the Blue Eagle re-serves may just provide the nec-essary boost to gain not only the first twice-to-beat advantagebut perhaps a season sweep topropel them to their fourthstraight finals appearance.

The Green Archers could on-ly look on in dismay as whatbegan as a season of promiseseemed to be getting worse.

A rebuilding Green Archerssquad has shed almost every player from the 2007 title teamand is guided by DindoPumaren instead of that cham-pionship squad’s coach FranzPumaren. A lineup full of guards showed a serious devo-tion to La Salle’s vaunted full-court pressure, but as teams be-gan to figure out how to break through that press, the Green Archers has produced mediocreresults.

Right now, La Salle finds it-self hovering just around 50

percent, a place that they arecertainly not used to.The La Salle lineup has pro-

duced several welcome develop-ments. Overall, the best Green Archer has to be headstrongguard LA Revilla. Lost for a sea-son after a promising start dueto diabetes, Revilla broke outearly in the season, providingconsistent penetration and scor-ing from the point guard spot.

While his health continues tobe a concern, Revilla clearly isthe barometer for this young LaSalle quintet, and will only goas far as Revilla boldly takesthem.

After a hot scoring streak inthe preseason, second-yearguard Almond Vosotros has con-tinued to flourish as a scorerlate in games and, together with Revilla, makes up the mostpotent scoring backcourt in theleague.

The season’s biggest surprise

By Ruel S. De Vera, Sunday Inquirer Magazine

E VER proud and ever faithful, the student bodiesof Ateneo de Manila University and De La Salleunderstand that their basketball teams’ fates

are inextricably linked, no matter how far they arefrom each other in the standings.

The two Ateneo-La Sallegames are a season to them-selves, something that their re-spective followings await impa-tiently for as the other games

go by. There are even some whosay they would prefer a winover the other school ratherthan a championship.

Luckily, the teams have deliv-ered. For years on end, the twoteams dueled for places in theteam win-loss charts, always just a heartbreak loss or fulfill-ing win away from each other.There were even those perfect years when the Blue Eagles andGreen Archers faced off in thefinals, the best possible out-come.

But rarely have the twoschools been so far apart andmoving in such different direc-tions as the Blue Eagles and theGreen Archers in the secondround of UAAP Season 74.

It would be greatly disingen-

uous to rank Ateneo anywherebut the top entering the season.The three-time defending cham-pions and Season 74 hosts may have lost two major contribu-

tors during their dominantrun—graduated guard EricSalamat and swingman RyanBuenafe, lost to conditioning is-sues—but they also gained thebiggest boost from a stellar re-cruiting class.

On their way to a flawlessrecord, the Blue Eagles unveiledthe rookie one-two punch of 7’0” center Greg Slaughter and5’10” guard Kiefer Ravena.Slaughter proved to be agileand quick in the post and sim-ply overpowered opposing bigmen. Ravena, meanwhile,showed a prodigious streak onboth offense and defense,showing he had what it took to win on all aspects of the game.

How dominant are the BlueEagles? Slaughter and Ravenalead the statistical race for the

UAAP MVP. Yet that discussion hasn’t

even touch on the return-ing Ateneo squad, ban-

nered by veteran wing-men Nico Salva. Salva, apolished scorer with adeadly midrange game,could carry the team’sscoring but defers to

Slaughter and Ravena when needed. But it isn’tcoincidence that Salva

has won a UAAP title ineach of his years as an Ate-

nean.This year, Kirk Long seems

intent to contribute more on thedefensive end while the surpris-ing Emman Monfort has shownthat he won’t back down fromany challenge at point guard.This five—Slaughter, Salva,Long, Ravena and Monfort—isprobably the UAAP’s most fear-some offensive unit.

What Ateneo needs to main-tain their spot atop the leader-board is for their second unit toprovide enough of a cushion fortheir starters to rest.

has been the flourishing insidegame of 6’-6” rookie big manNorbert Torres. While he initial-ly spent too much time trying toscore from beyond the arc, Tor-res proved to be a workhorseinside, rebounding steadily andscoring on point-blank attempts.

Two other sophomoreguards, Luigi dela Paz and Jare-lan Tampus have emerged asable supporting scorers.

To improve their location inthe standings and beat out Uni- versity of Santo Tomas for thatfourth final four slot, La Salleneeds to find scoring from

across their roster as well as pa-trolling the paint better. More isexpected from Maui Villanueva,Joshua Webb and Arnold VanOpstal.

Pumaren must find a way tomaximize the talents that histeam clearly possesses even ashe must find a way to overcomethe disastrous injuries that hasstruck his players.

Perhaps no loss is greater thanthat of beanpole Yutien Andrada who was lost for the season after

tearing his anterior cruciate liga-ment in his right knee during theGreen Archers’ upset loss to Uni- versity of the East.

As the Blue Eagles and theGreen Archers meet on Aug. 28,they will have different thingson their minds prior to thegame. The Ateneo players look forward to a possible sweep ontheir way to the finals while theLa Salle cagers ponder a secondround rally on their way to a fi-nal four slot.

But when the game begins,those thoughts will recede fromtheir minds. When the opening

buzzer goes off and the refer-ees’ whistles sound, all that theplayers, from either Ateneo orLa Salle, will be thinking abouthow to win each possession in40 minutes of basketball heav-en. It doesn’t matter where thetwo teamsare in the standings.The important thing is that thetwo are meeting, period.

When the Ateneo-La Salleclassic comes to the Big Dome,the biggest game is the oneright in front of you.

RELIABLE ATENEO coach Norman Black and his trusted playmaker Monfort.

AUGUST DELA CRUZ

MUST-WINSITUATIONDLSU mentor

Dindo Pumaren.

A U G U S T D E L A C R U Z



3Editor in Chief

Chito dF. dela VegaDesk editors

Dennis U. EroaFrancis Ochoa

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for by law, no articleor photograph published byINQUIRER LIBRE Varsity Wars may be reprinted orreproduced, in whole or in

part, without its priorconsent.

NEW BATTLECOURT

This Archerlikes

to be alawyer

As De La Salle Uni- versity’s (DLSU)shooting guard, Mara-ta is perpetually bal-ancing school work —where he is takingup psychology as apre-law course—andpractice time. With LaSalle celebrating 100 years since its founda-tion in the country,Marata admits to feel-ing more pressure tograb the champi-onship trophy this year.

“We try to play ourbest every game andhope for the best re-sults,” said the 22- year-old. “Now, morethan ever, we trainand practice hard sothe whole team is inprime condition.”

During UAAP sea-

son, training could be

tedious. The 16 mem-bers of the La Salleteam go to trainingevery day, after school(usually 4 or 5 pm)for three to fourhours, where they dodrills, exercises, andpractice games.

With his busy schedule, Marata saidhe’d rather just stay at home and relaxduring his leisuretimes. When time per-mits, he goes to themovies or watchshows like “How IMet Your Mother”and “Entourage” onTV. He also spends alot of time playingNBA or FIFA videogames on his PS3.

Marata isn’t thebiggest party animaleither. A month or

two before UAAP sea-

son, he avoided par-ties as he knowsdrinking and all-nighters won’t do himany favors. Luckily forhim, his friends knowthis so there is nopressure for him toparty all night long.

“But when it’s off season (for UAAP)and I have more freetime, I prefer to go tothe beach,” saidMarata, who, at 6-feet-3-inches is one of the tallest guys in histeam. “I love to trav-el, too, if the opportu-nity presents itself.”

Marata grew up with basketball in hisDNA—with a father,Tata Marata, a PBA player during histime; and two unclesand a cousin who alsoplayed for the profes-sional basketballleague, he was boundto love the game him-self.

But he insists hisfather never forcedhim to play. In fact, it wasn’t until he was inhigh school at the UP

Intergrated School in

Diliman did he takethe game seriously.Back then, he was at5-foot, 6inches, al-ready one of the tallerones in his team.

Asked why hedidn’t join the Ma-roons, and instead went to the Archers,he said a factor wasthat the latter wasfirst to approach andrecruit him. Plus, hesaid, a change of en- vironment looked at-tractive.

Today, after threeseasons with the Archers, Marata ad-mits it still feels weird whenever he seeshimself on TV, duringreplays of UAAPgames. But, somehow,he had grown accus-tomed to it.

One of the morepopular players in histeam, Marata hashundreds of fans—onand off the court.

“A lot of times,people ask to havetheir pictures taken with me after thegame. They also give

me food, especially

By Kenneth M. del Rosario

L IKE any other basketball player,Sam Marata dreams of having along, successful professional ca-

reer at the sports that has been partof his life since childhood. But if, forwhatever reason, that does not work out, he can always go to law school.

sweets and I like it,”he said.

But he tries to lim-it eating sweets, andavoids consuming so-da and junk food.

While his basket-ball idol remains tobe the great MichaelJordan, Marata isthankful he has a dadthat gives him moralsupport and even ad- vice on how to im-prove his skills.

“My dad gives metips but at the sametime he knows wehave our own capa-

ble coach so he justthrows his moralsupport to me andthe whole team. Hetries to watch our

game as often as hecan,” Marata said.

With his goodlooks and impressiveskills, Marata has alsobeen asked to endorsea couple of brands.Right now, he has abillboard up in EDSA for Gatorade. Withseveral of his team-mates, he also en-dorses Nike.

With a hectic sched-ule (it’s finals week forLa Salle right now),the secret to doing ev-erything, he said, istime management. He

said: “I’ve got an excel-lent support system [inhis family, friends, andgirlfriend, fans] andthat I am thankful for.”

AUGUST 26-31, 2011

SAM Marata of La Salle (left) dribblingoff Oping Sumalinog of Ateneo A U G U S T D E L A C R U Z



4

DoubleBy Ruth L. Navarra

K IRK Long and Nico Salva are just two of the many reasons why the record of the Ateneo Blue Eagles is still spotless.

One can’t claim that they arethe star players of the team.

Mainly because it’s so hard toname stars from a squad whosemembers can explode anytimeand mercilessly rain downpoints against any other team.

The two define themselvesfrom their teammates with theirleadership and finesse whenthey play on court. They seemto possess nerves of steel. They don’t get rattled easily, not even when their team is behind by afew points.

KIRK LONGKirk Long is, undoubtedly, afavorite among the female pop-ulation. Online surveys namehim as the hottest player in theUAAP. Next to Chris Tiu, he’sgot the most number of pun-filled posters.

It’s normal to read posters with “No one escapes the LONGarms of three-points” and “It’s aLONG road but we’re gettingthere.” He keeps his fans mysti-

fied and charmed with hischoice of hairstyles.He dyed his hair black before

their game against the USTGrowling Tigers. He says thatthe last time he had a black hair was back when he was really young.

“I’m changing it back (toblonde) because the fans areloving it. I am changing it back for them,” he says with a smile.It’s easy for him to changestyles because his sister is abeauty school graduate. Shelikes to experiment on him.

People who know him always describe him as “a very nice guy.” The mood is alwayslighthearted when you catchhim for a talk after a game.He’s probably the only rookie who, since day one, had a solidblock of fans—his family.

It’s easy to spot them-agroup of blonde, blue-eyed Cau-casians marching around the

venues in blue jerseys with“Long 12” written on the back

while they search for theirseats. They never missed agame. They were advertisinghim to everyone way before heshowed the world whathe’s got.

But Long is not just a poster boy for the Eagles,either. He’sgot madshootingskills.

“Whenev-er he’s open,he’s got the greenlight to shoot but hisfocus is not on that. Hisfocus, just like the rest of theteam, is on the defense,” says Ateneo coach Norman Black.“Kirk is our best defenderagainst perimeter shooters. Hegets the dirty job every singlegame. Whoever it is the bestperimeter player on the otherteam, he knows how to defend

them.”Long is deadly on the three-point line and to keep himuncheck is detrimental to ateam’s campaign. He’s almostunstoppable once he heats upduring the game. He’ll keep onshooting those threes and keepon making them.

When asked on how they would deal with the De La SalleGreen Archers on Saturday,Long shakes his head andsmiles. He says they have todeal with the UE Red Warriorsfirst before they start thinkingabout La Salle.

But when pressed, he says thatthey will “never underestimate LaSalle. That’s the worst thing that we could do right now.”

He also adds that they arenot worrying about sweepingthe elimination rounds.

“We’ve swept the elimina-tions when we’ve won all ourgames until the last,” he says.

trouble

LONG, SALVA

HOTLONG on the attacknever fails to elicitattention from the

female population.AUGUST DELA CRUZ

Black says that he’s an all-around player able to assist andset-up his teammates wheneverthey need it. He adds that theonly thing that Salva has tocontinue working on is his out-side shot. He says that it wassomething that the player didnot have when he first came to Ateneo from San Beda highschool.

Working hard is somethingSalva is comfortable with. Hesays that the coveted four-peatchampionship is all about hard work.

“Kailangang magtrabaho. Satatlong championship namin,lahat yun pinagtrabahuhannamin. We had to sweat for it,”he says. He is the steady, reli-able workhorse who takes theshot when needed.

He comes to the training andpractices earlier than his team-mates just so he could do morerepetition in lifting weights. Healso runs regularly to improveon his stamina. He says thatthere is no room for compla-

cency because the competi-tion gets better every year. Itis their responsibility tomake sure that they stay atthe top and lead the pack.

“Dapat mas pumupokpok kami at mas ibinibigay la-hat. Hindi pwede kung ano

kami years before ehganun pa rinhanggang ngay-on,” he says.

He only thinks about

their upcominggames on the

day itself. At atime when

they’re on thedugout, the coach is

discussing the plays,and the game a few

minutes away. He says that helikes to keep calm and keep hismind free. Part of the routine,of course, is praying the nightbefore the game.

Eating pasta three hours be-fore the game also helps himprepare for it. He also adds thatfor the extra energy needed, heeats the treat provided for theteam one hour before the game-peanut butter sandwich.

He reveals that the gameagainst the FEU Tamaraws wasa wake-up call for him. He saysit was one of the most memo-rable games that he’s ever hadto date. The Tamaraws gavethem quite a scare when they took his team to overtime.

“Buti na lang nanalo kami.Parating sinasabi sa akin na hin-di dapat makuntento sa mga

previous wins. We’re not usedto being behind but that gamealso showed the character of the team,” he says.

NICO SALVA Salva has moves that will

make Kobe Bryant proud.The 6’4” small forward was

one of the participants in thebasketball camp the NBA cagerheld a few years back. The clin-ic took only half the day but itseems Salva took a lot of notes.He’s been touted as one of the

most fundamentally sound play-er in the league.“Nico has been a major play-

er right from the start. He’s a very good offensive player. Hehas pretty much developed ev-erything else on the game. He’s very good in the foul line,” saysBlack.

To prove his coach’s word,Salva made all his free throwson their game against UST lastSaturday where he was hailedas the best player of the game.

SALVA-TIONNICO Salva can makethe big plays.

AUGUST DELA CRUZ

AUGUST 26-31, 2011



5AUGUST 17-30, 2011

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Improbable YOU know how thereare moments in yourlife when you tell

yourself, it can’t getany better than this?For some, it may

be a day in the beachunder perfect sun-shine. For others, itmight be hanging out with old friends. For you students outthere, it might bespending an entireday with the cutestgirl or guy in campus.

For me, the 1988-89 season of theUAAP qualifies as thatkind of a moment.

I was a sophomorefor Ateneo and webeat La Salle for themen’s championship. And it can’t get any better than this.

It was even morespecial for me for an-other reason: I got toplay solid minutes in

my sophomore yearthan I did as a rookie.Playing behind thenstarting guard JunReyes in my freshman year ate up a lot of playing opportunitiesfor me.

The memory seemshazy now. But I do re-member one thing: I was on the court dur-ing the crucial stagesof the match and hada hand in theturnover that sealedthe outcome for us. Iremember pressuringLa Salle’s Dindo

Pumaren into losing acrucial possessionthat iced the title.

Beating La Sallefor the UAAP title andthen actually playinga key role in thechampionship. It defi-nitely doesn’t get bet-ter than that.

HHH

The reason for allthis nostalgia is be-cause Ateneo and LaSalle are going upagainst each otheragain. And in the tra-dition of both schoolshardcourt ‘‘hatred” foreach other, it shouldbe another slam-bangaffair.

I remember I usedto get nervous every time we were goingto play La Salle. Evenfrom the lockerrooms, you can hearthe crowd cheeringand you can eel theelectricity buzzing.

Of course, on thecourt, your instinctstake over. You zoneout on all the chantsand everything thathappens in the crowd.

But once the gameis over and the resultsinks in, the thingthat makes the rivalry

special washesover you: Every loss is more

painful. Every win is a wholelot sweeter.

I get asked alot about my

take in this season’ Ateneo-La Salle partII. People ask me whoI think will win.

Seriously? I meanhow many of you outthere really expect meto say La Salle? Justkidding.

But really, ask mea thousand times and you’ll get the sameanswer.

Ateneo. By a mile.It will be a huge

upset if La Salle wins.HHH

But you see guys,that’s what makes theUAAP and this rivalry special.

I say Ateneo will

win because of theobvious edge in man-power that my Eagleshave over those Archers.

But even if oneschool has its weakestroster and the otherhas its strongest, oncethese two teams meeton the court, every-thing is equal. Trustme.

I’ve not only played in enough Ate-neo-La Salle games toknow that. I’ve also watched enoughgames to be an au-

thority on that matter.There’s no weak

Ateneo team when it’s

playing La Salle, justas there are no weak Archers squads oncethey face the Eagles.

I remember there was this phase when Ateneo basketball wason a slump and we were getting beatenleft and right by otherschools. La Salle, onthe other hand, had apowerhouse roster very few in the leaguecould match. The Archers were up thereand the Eagles weredown there.

But when the twoteams played at the Araneta Coliseum, thedifference in man-power didn’t matter.The Eagles were mak-ing shot after shot af-ter shot.

In fact, shots that

the Eagles could notmake even during warm-ups or prac-tices, we were makingeasily.

We ended up with what the press de-scribed as an improb-able victory that time.

For me, it wasn’timprobable. And while a La Salle winthis time would be anupset, it also won’t beimprobable.

In the world of the Ateneo-La Salle rival-ry, that’s simply howthe ball rolls.

OLSEN’S

DAY Olsen Racela

One shot for Slaughter

The seven-footSlaughter, who is cur-rently leading theMVP race after thefirst round, has suc-cesfully backed allthat talk about himbeing a central figure

in the Ateneo title de-fense. And if youhave any doubtsabout that, under-stand that the BlueEagles haven’t lost inthe UAAP since theSlaughterhouse set up

camp in Katipunan. A transferee from

the University of the Visayas, Slaughter isaveraging 14 points,nine rebounds andtwo blocks for a pace-setting 65.14 statisti-cal points.

‘‘Hopefully I canhelp the team win afourth straight champi-onship, but as I said,it’s not going to beeasy,” said Slaughter.

Help is clearly un-

derstating his worth,as Slaughter has morethan just his toweringsize to offer.

The Smart Gilas na-tional team mainstay has more than provedhis worth on both endsof the floor with his ar-ray of offensive movesaround the paint along with his intimidatingpresence in the lowblocks, so much so thatif altered shots are tal-

lied as blocks he would

easily average double-digit swats a game.

But as dominatingas Slaughter is, heknows he still has-some work to do. And the road to thatelusive four-peat isnot going to get any easier with teamslike Adamson andFar Eastern Universi-ty showing they’recapable of stayingtoe-to-toe with the

Blue Eagles.

Slaughter, who isplaying in his lone year of eligibility, has just one shot to dobig things donning

the blue and white.That’s why along

with Ravena, Kirk Long, Nico Salva andEman Monfort,Slaughter feels it’sfour-peat or bust.

‘‘We have to look at it in a way that westill have to go 110percent to win thechampionship,” saidSlaughter. ‘‘We can’tbe too confident.”

With Slaughter play-ing an MVP season,and a fourth straight ti-tle on the horizon, con-fidence should not be aproblem.

By Mark Giongco

G REG Slaughter has equippedthe Ateneo defense with anarmor that no opponent has

broken through so far.

SLAUGHTER

By Hormel Delata



6

And you can say the same toTiffany Atendido, the Green Archers’ beaming courtside re-porter, when she reports on thespot with absolutely no roomfor error in front of millionsglued to their television sets.

Tiff, who started her court-side duties with the University of the East back in 2009, hashad her taste of taking part inarguably the fiercest rivals inbasketball.

‘‘To begin with, there was somuch pressure to it. I’ve report-ed during the UE-Ateneo finalsbut I didn’t feel that pressuredas compared to the Ateneo-LaSalle game in the first round,”she said. Tiff is known as SuperGirl in Facebook.

‘‘I mean, ilan ba nanonoodng Ateneo-La Salle and mgaalumni ang nanonood and thesepeople know what they’re

watching and they can really criticize you. So sobrang pres-sure,” she added. And I’ve beenraised by a La Sallian family, sothe rivalry is already in my blood ever since.

And for her, the toughestpart is drawing the line bet- ween being a reporter and afan.

‘‘Ang sarap manood pero atthe same time I remind myself of my job. I mean I can’t be bi-ased, I just have to say what’sgoing on with the team,” shesaid.

‘‘I can’t shed out emotions.”Though Tiff admitted that at

times, she fails to control heremotions especially when LaSalle absorbs a heartbreakingsetback. Just like its last gameagainst UE when the final-fourhopeful Archers fell, 69-74.

‘‘I was crying already during

the fourth quarter. And my di-rector told me bawal. But at thesame time as a fan and comingfrom the school it really gets tome personally, very upsetting,”she said.

‘‘I’m just happy to be there for theteam, you got tocheer them upsomehow.”

Tiff, who is tak-ing up law at DL-SU, also recalledsome of her not-sogreat on-cam mo-ments.

‘‘It was gamethree of the finals,

UE was already losing, ang laki nang lamang ng Ate-neo, so right thenand there parangalam ko na mata-talo na, so I wascrying and it wascaught on video,”she recalled.

And sometimes, the lack of familiarity with the other teams’players can cause awkwardtimes such as Tiff’s blooper in

By Mark GiongcoInquirer.net

U AAP stars like Kiefer Ravena and LA Revilla toname a few know that an Ateneo-La Salle en-counter is pressure-packed.

an interview with Ateneo bigman Justin Chua.

‘‘The interview was great un-til I thanked him by saying:

Thank you NicoSalva,” she said.‘‘I didn’ty realizeit at first so I was smiling infront of thecam, and Justin was like “hindiako si Nico Sal- va.” Good thingit was taped.

Back to theserious side of things, Tiff saidshe isn’t thesporty type and

not knowingany sport is tes-tament to that. Idon’t even knowhow to swim.”

So what gother into this?

‘‘When I wasin high schoolmy dad would

bring me to (watch) the gamesand whenever we can’t watch itlive because of school, we’d watch it on TV, and I see these

girls reporting. And when I watch live, I was at the cornerso I see them preparing,” saidTiff, who studied Legal Manage-ment also at De La Salle.

Tiff had to wait longer thanshe expected before finally get-ting to call courtside for herbeloved Green Archers.

‘‘When I was in third year, Iapplied and they asked me if Icould do NU, I said I just wantLa Salle. The next year they gave me UE and I was okay with it because I really wantedthe job. And I was happy be-cause we were able to get intothe finals,” she recalled.

‘‘I skipped last year because Ihaven’t adjusted yet to law

school. [This year] I had to gothrough the auditions all overagain and when they told me,Tiff assignment mo La Salle, ay talagang happy.”

Tiff has yet to considercourtside reporting as a careerbut in case law school won’t work she sees news casting asan option.

‘‘I didn’t really go into thisthinking about this [as a career]I just really wanted to be acourtside reporter.”

DLSU’S TIFF ATENDIDO

Super Girlhas no roomfor error

‘‘Ang sarapmanood pero atthe same time

I remind myselfof my job. I

mean I can’t bebiased, I just

have to saywhat’s goingon with theteam,’’ she

said.

AUGUST 26-31, 2011



7

Still, with every error ampli-fied by the millions watchingthe game—live or on the boobtube—Reyes keeps her fingerscrossed for a perfect take.

‘‘The first time I reported foran Ateneo-La Salle game, Ithink I screwed up one of my reports” shared Jaz, as she isknown to many. ‘‘Umiinit talagasa Araneta Coliseum sa dami ngtao.”

Heat. Pressure. Just some of

the things Reyes has to deal with when the next Eagles- Archers derby comes along.

‘‘I think it [pressure] pushesme to do better, because there areso much people counting of me,and looking at me. I don’t wantto let them down,” she said.

From the view of the televi-sion screen, it might look asthough looks, projection andthe ability to deliver spiels in aperfect twang are the only things Reyes, a sophomore com-

munications student, has to worry about.

But when you actually arethe one standing in front of thecamera, each 20-second spot re-port is also a test of ones ability to grasp the situation and a nat-ural understanding of the game--and the team you’re reportingabout.

‘‘I always go to the practice, Isee how much they work hard,”shared Jaz. ‘‘Nahawa ako kay

Coach Norman [Black] na hebelieves in the team so much.Sobrang laki ng tiwala ko sateam.”

And with that she’s seen sofar, La Salle will give her almamater good work out as they clash anew in the second round.

‘‘I’m still very true to the Ate-nean way, but I don’t neglectthe fact that La Salle is a very good team. I think it’s good thatthe Blue Eagles are challenged,”Jaz said.

By Celest R. Flores,Inquirer.net

R EPORTING in an Ateneo-La Salle game can beas nerve-wracking as playing for one of thearchrivals but it’s nothing Ateneo’s blooming

courtside reporter Jazmine Reyes can’t handle.

Blooming Jaz eyesperfect take

Blooming Jaz eyesperfect take

‘‘The first timeI reported for

an Ateneo-LaSalle game, Ithink I screwedup one of my

reports” sharedJaz, as she is

known to many.‘‘Umiinit talaga

sa AranetaColiseum sa

dami ng tao.”

AUGUST 26-31, 2011



8

ATENEO VS DE LA SALLE

Numbers will TELL !La Salle still leads

the head-to-head se-ries, 34- 32, but Ate-neo has won eight of the last nine encoun-ters, including thefirst meeting thiscampaign last July 16, 81 - 72.

Round one of themost celebrated col-lege rivalry in thecountry will be bestremembered by thecoming out party of Eagles’ rookie KieferRavena, who torchedthe Archers for 22 of his game-high 24points in the first half. Ateneo erected a leadas large as 19 (58 -39) late in the thirdquarter, but in true LaSalle fashion, the Archers managed totrim down the deficitto as low as five (75 -70) before six straightfree throws by Em-man Monfort eventu-ally put the gameaway.

While many haveargued that onethrows away numbers

when these two bitterfoes clash, there werequite few tellingstatistics that provid-ed evidence why theblue side prevailed.STARTERS’SCORING

Led by Ravena’s of-fensive explosion, the Ateneo starters out-scored their La Sallecounterparts, 69-45.

Except for LA Re- villa, who led all LaSalle scorers with 22points, no other Archer starter finishedin double figures.

Through ninegames, Ateneo’s start-ing unit has been thebest in terms of offen-sive production asthey have averaged57 points per outing while La Salle’s first

five has only aver-aged 33 points.BENCH SCORING

On the flip side, LaSalle has the bestbench production asthe Archers’ secondstringers, led by sophomore guard

Jarelan Tampus, haveprovided 38.6 pointper outing while Ate-neo’s bench is deadlast with only 16.7points produced pergame.

In the first roundmeeting, La Salle’sbench outscored Ate-neo’s bench. 27 - 12,but it wasn’t enoughto make up for the 24point disparity in thestarters’ scoringFAST BREAK SCORING

This season’s Ate-neo squad has attimes looked like itseemed more suitedto a track meet than abasketball game.

In the first en-counter Ateneooutscored La Salle,15-6, in fast break points.FREE THROWSHOOTING

Whether Ateneogets help from offi-cials may be anothermatter altogether, butthe Eagles not only know how to get tothe charity stripe, butthey are highly effi-cient when comes toconverting shots from

the fifteen foot line.The Eagles averagea little over 27 freethrow attempts a con-test and they haveconverted a league-best 75 percent of their charities or get alittle over 20 pointsfrom the line.

Coach NormanBlack’s wards went 23for 30 in the firstmeeting.

AUGUST 26-31, 2011

By Lorenzo Manguiat

THE second round meeting betweeneternal rivals Ateneo de Manila Uni- versity and De La Salle University marks the 77th time that the twosquads will collide in the UAAP men’sseniors basketball tournament.

Documents

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