Mga Pamalandong sa Bisoy

Return of the LA

Talk about timely hot shooting. Ateneo avenged its first round loss from FEU as they beat FEU in a thriller ball game 69-66. After averaging a measly 5.5 pts on 29% shooting from the field in their last two games, LA Tenorio poured in 25 huge points, 4 for 7 from three-point country and dished out 5 assists to help deal FEU its second loss of the season.

Ateneo started the game slowly as they played catch up for the entire first half. Macky Escalona picked up two quick fouls early in the first forcing Coach Norman to send in Magnum Membrere to enter the game this early. Fortunately for them, almost everyone tapped in by Coach Norman Black contributed scoring-wise. The Blue Eagles were led in scoring in the first half by Membrere, Intal and Escalona with 4 points apiece. Meanwhile, FEU was led by their main man Arwind Santos with 7 points on two treys and one free throw. You would start to wonder where Ateneo’s main man is on the scoring board. LA Tenorio shot a measly 1 for 4 from the field for 2 points in the first half.

The second half turned out to be a different ball game for the Blue Eagles. Ateneo had a sense of urgency of winning the ballgame to build momentum against archrivals LaSalle on Thursday and eventually entering the Final Four. A win would also put them in a tie with the UE Red Warriors at second place, which is a crucial spot since it holds a twice-to-beat advantage against the team at third place.

After shooting a meager 2 points in the first half, LA realized that another mediocre game from him could kill Ateneo’s chances of getting a twice-to-beat advantage in the Final Four. He unleashed the scoring devil inside of him as he carried Ateneo in his shoulders during the third quarter. He made two from beyond the arc and made incredible layups as Ateneo grabbed the lead late in the third canto. He made 10 points in the third quarter alone.

At the start of the third quarter, Ateneo looked to blow the game away as it erected its biggest lead at 11. This was also the biggest deficit FEU faced all throughout this season. This allowed Coach Norman to reward Tenorio with a well-deserved rest in the fourth quarter with 9 minutes left in the game. FEU smelled they had to capitalize with Tenorio sitting on the bench. And they did. They went on a run to cut the lead down to two with a little over five minutes left in the game. Ateneo was forced to call a timeout and send back Tenorio back in the game. Despite the timeout, Ateneo was unable to produce and FEU was able to tie the game. They even managed to lead by 1 solitary point.

At this point, Tenorio had to take the game into his own hands. He made an off-balanced three pointer and made a looper against three FEU defenders, one of whom is the shot-blocking Arwind Santos. In one of these sequences, Ateneo got the rebound from an FEU miss. This led to an outlet pass to Tenorio, who very surprisingly, muffed the layup. He jumped in disgust after the miss. This led to a counter fast break for FEU. In that fast break, the ball was fed to Arwind Santos for an easy layup. This would have been a sure two for FEU had it not been for Japhet Aguilar’s presence. Aguilar emphatically erased Santos’ shot. On another play after, Santos drove in again for another layup. But guess who came to the rescue? Yes, Japhet rebuffed the layup! Returned to sender baby! He also had another rejection on another inside shot by Mark Isip (I think it was him).

This game was by no means an all-LA Tenorio show. Japhet Aguilar did his job on defense, as usual, and he also contributed a decent number of points. He converted on a no-look assist from Escalona, plus a foul. He also made a shot on a fast break play plus a foul against Mark Isip. Isip’s hands were just on Aguilar’s wrists when he made the shot. Who’s tall huh? Mag-Growee ka muna! Hahaha! Martin’s idol, Quimson, did his share by getting offensive boards and converting on offensive putbacks. Ken Barracoso was fielded in for JC Intal who I think sprained his ankle in the game. Barracoso was used to finish the game together with the starting 4 of Ateneo. He made very crucial free throws and he also made a fast break layup in the fourth. Macky Escalona also made a jumper in the fourth which ended a mild Ateneo drought in the fourth. The Jainamyte and Zion Laterre didn’t make significant contributions but they were good enough to give the starters a brief rest.

So this is the reason why I never lost faith in LA Tenorio despite two mediocre games against losing teams, UST and NU. He really steps up when he feels it’s necessary. Remember Game 3 of the UAAP Finals 2001? Even though Ateneo eventually lost the finals to LaSalle, Tenorio poured in 30+ points during that game. Had it not been for Enrico Villanueva’s dismal game, Ateneo would’ve won that game, with LA as the game’s MVP. So LA, do well next game and in the Final Four and the Finals… We believe! MVP! MVP! MVP!

And just to show how great his game was, about 3-5 of Tenorio's shots could make this years top ten plays. I mean they were great and impossible-looking shots. One commentator even said, "Is that shot even legal?" to show his disbelief on how Tenorio was able to make the shot against 3 defenders, one of whom is Arwind Santos...

posted by kArEnEiL @ 8:47 PM