Chris Tiu, playing in his 5th year in UAAP, scored 26 points, including five of seven free throws in dying seconds to help Ateneo past arch-rival La Salle, 79-73, last night in the 71st UAAP men's basketball competition in front of a 22,008-strong capacity crowd at the Araneta Coliseum.
"That's what Chris Tiu does for us," said Ateneo coach Norman Black. " I said it over and over again that he's our best player and normally when it's clutch time we go to him. And he delivered for us again. He's just living up to his role."
Rico Maierhofer, who had 16 points, kept matters close for the last time with his drive past Escueta, as the Archers threatened at 73-74. After the La Salle conversion, Tiu again received a pushing foul from La Salle rookie Hyram Bagatsing at the three-point arc. Tiu shook off a bad fall then sank two of three attempts to lift the Eagles at 76-73 with 38.6 ticks remaining. Peejay Barua missed a potential game-tying triple as Escueta and Salamat buried three more foul shots in the last 20 seconds for the final tally.
"Every time we beat La Salle, it's always a big win for us," said Black. "It's a good win for us. We wanted to get off to a good start. The earlier you get that first victory, the better it's going to be for your confidence."
The drama between the country's fiercest varsity rivals, in fact, started early as officials slapped a technical foul on the Archers even before the jumpball for violating a league rule. La Salle's coaching staff failed to wear their official IDs on court--a mandatory rule this season-- thus awarding the Eagles two free throws. Tiu nailed both charity shots to give the Eagles a 2-0 lead.
"I just couldn't understand all the fuss about the IDs," said coach Franz Pumaren. "The reason I wasn't wearing an ID was because I was watching the NU and UP game and the NU coaching staff weren't wearing their IDs. I also watched the game between UST and UE, UST didn't wear their IDs."
Those who packed the Araneta Coliseum couldn’t have asked for more as the match turned out to be a classic. Among the crowd of 22,000 were boxing icon Manny Pacquiao, NBA star Gilbert Arenas, US Ambassador Kristie Kenney and business tycoons Henry Sy and Manny Pangilinan.
The scores:
ATENEO 79 - Tiu 26, Salamat 10, Al-Hussaini 10, Buenafe 8, Nkemakolam 7, Baclao 7, Burke 4, Austria 3, Long 2, Salva 1, Escueta 1, Baldos 0, Reyes 0.
LA SALLE 73 - Casio 19, Maierhofer 16, Mangahas 13, Webb 7, Villanueva 4, Bagatsing 4, Revilla 3, Walsham 2, Atkins 2, Barua 2, Ferdinand 1, Malabes 0.
Quarters: 17-16, 35-40, 56-54, 79-73
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