Eagles foil Tams' bid to wrap-up PCCL title series

Reigning two-time UAAP champion Ateneo made sure that it won't give Far Eastern University the national title on a silver platter. The Blue Eagles bounced back from their disappointing loss the other day by blasting the Tamaraws, 90-63, Thursday to force a pivotal third game for the Philippine Collegiate Champions League (PCCL) crown at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City.

Behind a second quarter burst and a huge performance from sophomore forward Nico Salva and veteran guard Eric Salamat, the Loyola-based squad kept its hopes of retaining the championship via an easy win. Game 3 of this titular showdown is set on Sunday. "I think we played much better defense and more focused and that was the key. Even though we were winning majority of Game 1, we really didn't play defense the entire game," said coach Norman Black. Ateneo led by 14 points in the second quarter and were up by six entering the final canto of the series opener but suffered a heartbreaking 75-70 setback. Salva, a former San Beda Red Cub impressed Black with 26 points on 11-of-18 shooting and added eight rebounds in 22 minutes. "He had a career game," said Black. "He's one of the players that will be very prominent in our future in the UAAP and I'm happy for him that he played a great game." Salamat also played huge with 20 points on 9-of-13 shooting together with two rebounds, two assists and two steals. At one point, the speedy guard made three straight baskets as the Eagles took a 26-point advantage (85-59) with 3:15 remaining. The trio of Salva, Salamat and big man Nonoy Baclao conspired in a huge 17-0 second quarter run that broke a 21-all deadlock to give the Blue Eagles a 38-21 spread, 4:03 left before halftime, that finally sealed the outcome of the contest. Baclao finished with 11 points and eight rebounds in what will most likely be his last game with the Loyola-based squad. The former 2008 UAAP Finals Most Valuable Player will likely miss Sunday's game as he will play for the ASEAN Basketball League's Philippine Patriots in their game against the Brunei Barracudas in Bandar Seri Begawan. His absence could severely affect the Eagles’ frontline as they are already without star big man Rabeh Al-Hussaini, who is now with the Smart Gilas national team. "We'll just show up with the players we had and give it our best shot this Sunday," said Black. RP mainstay JR Cawaling topscored for FEU, which failed on its first try to bag a record third PCCL crown, with 18 markers on 7-of-9 shooting while Aldrech Ramos made 12 points, three rebounds and four blocks. Reil Cervantes also had 12 points. But the biggest disappointment was starting point guard RR Garcia, who had just two points on 1-of-7 shooting in 27 minutes. It was a far cry from his tournament average of 20.3 points. The 5-foot-11 guard, though, managed to record four rebounds, four assists and two blocks, one of which came against the 6-foot-5 Baclao. – GMANews.TV