Ateneo, La Salle rally to win Filoil openers

Source: Manila Bulletin
Reigning UAAP champion Ateneo shook off the rust in time while De la Salle held off a furious Letran rally Saturday night and the Eagles and the Archers came through with pulsating victories at the start of the 2010 Filoil Flying V Tanduay 1st 5 Preseason Invitational Cup at the Filoil Flying V Arena in San Juan.City.

The Eagles rallied in the second half to outplay San Beda College , 84-73, while the Archers came back from a six-point deficit in the final four minutes to nip the Knights, 77-76.

La Salle Guard Simon Atkins put the Archers up with an open trey for a 75-72 lead with 1:58 to go and then completed his night of brilliance by forcing Letran’s Kevin Alas to throw an off-balanced shot at the buzzer to escape with the win.

The Eagles, who just resumed their training after a two-week break, trailed by 11 points at the half but went to Eric Salamat, Nico Salva, Eman Monfort, and Chris de Chavez to score the opening-day victory.

“We’re not very well conditioned right now,” coach Norman Black admitted.

“The first half was ugly and it looked like we didn’t know how to play basketball but luckily. we played well in the second half.”

The scores:

First Game
ATENEO 84 - Salva 16, Monfort 16, De Chavez 13, Salamat 12, Escueta 10, Austria 4, Long 4, Buenafe 3, Tiongson 2, Gonzaga 2, Golla 2, Chua 0, Erram 0.
SAN BEDA 73 - Dela Rosa 14, Lanete 12, Marcelo 12, Daniel 11, Semerad A. 5, Pascual J. 5, Hermida 4, Villahermosa 2, Mendoza 2, Caram 2, Semerad J. 2, Pascual K. 2.
Quarters: 15-19; 32-43; 60-57; 84-73.

Second Game
LA SALLE 77 - Webb 27, Ferdinand 11, Atkins 9, Marata 7, Villanueva 5, Banal 5, Andrada 5, dela Paz 5, Reyes 1, Elorde 1, Vosotros 1, Tampus 0, Paredes 0, Tolentino 0.
LETRAN 76 - Dysam 17, Belencion 14, Cortes 13, K. Alas 13, Belorio 6, J. Alas 5, Rodil 4, Taplah 2, Espiritu 2, Almazan 0, Pantin 0.
Quarters: 22-22, 43-41, 58-55, 77-76.

Games Wednesday (The Arena)
9 a.m. - UST vs UE (Jrs)
11 a.m. - Perpetual vs NU (Jrs)
1 p.m. - FEU-FERN vs RP Youth U-13 (Jrs)
3 p.m. - Adamson vs Mapua (Srs)
5 p.m. - Perpetual vs Arellano (Srs)