'Jai-namite' erupts for back-to-back title seeking Eagles

Jai Reyes and Rabeh Al-Hussaini showed no signs of rust despite the long break to help Ateneo move one win away of claiming its second straight UAAP crown. Reyes buried the big shots while Al-Hussaini was brilliant all-game long as the Blue Eagles squeezed out a 78-71 triumph in Game 1 of the UAAP best-of-three finals Thursday at the Big Dome.

Reyes, who was one of the victims of typhoon Ondoy since their home at Riverside Village in Pasig City was flooded, finished with 17 points behind a 5-of-6 shooting from beyond the arc. Playing after a 10-day break, Reyes put on a show in the second half as the Eagles’ 5-foot-8 playmaker scored 15 of his points in the second half including back-to-back three-pointers that gave Ateneo a 66-59 cushion 4:36 left in the final period. “It was a big time shooting display Jai put on," said Eagles coach Noman Black. “He basically broke UE’s zone. Sometimes it takes one guy to get it done and Jai was able to knock down shots." Black said the long break, after Sunday’s game was postponed, did not affect his players’ focus. “We came in ready to play. I don’t think we will come into the game rusty. Like what I’ve been telling you, we made sure that the boys were sharp in practice and at the same time keep them rested." “I’m not going to tell you that it was easy to get them focused because some of the players were affected by the flood. A lot of their homes were flooded. UE probably had the same problems as we did. We really had to do some extra things this week to try to improve their focus," added Black. Al-Hussaini paced Ateneo’s scoring with 28 points to go with his 14 rebounds to post his first double-double in a championship game. Paul Lee had 15 points and eight rebounds while Pari Llagas and Val Acuña added 13 apiece for the Red Warriors, who managed to keep in stride with the Blue Eagles. UE even held on to a 35-34 halftime lead and trailed by four, 75-71, entering the final 50 seconds of the match. – GMANews.TV