Ateneo coach Sandy Arespacochaga knew they would have a hard time engaging La Salle basket for basket. So he did the next best thing–paralyze if not terminate La Salle’s fountain of wealth.
"We can't play Ben Mbala straight up, one on one. We needed all of our five guys to come up and do the roles in order to slow down Ben," Arespacochaga. was quoted in a report by Camille Naredo on abs-cbn.com. "The players implemented our game plan. There were some mistakes, but more or less, we were happy with how they executed," he added.
The Blue Eagles ganged up on the MVP awardee all-night long, resulting to a lowest-career finish by the La Salle big man and 76-70 win over the Green Archers and moved a win shy of locking up the Universities Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 80 men’s basketball diadem.
Mbala, the seasons Most Valuable Player awardee, only managed eight points that went with 12 rebounds and four assists.
As Ateneo’s game plan on defense clicked, it’s offense equally mattered as four Blue Eagles scored in double figures with Ravena topscoring with 12 points, plus six rebounds and four assists. Twin brothers Matt and Mike Nieto had 11 apiece while Isaac Go, the hero of their victory over FEU the last time out, had 10.
The scores:
ATENEO 76 – Ravena 12, Nieto Ma 11, Nieto Mi 11, Asistio 10, Tolentino 9, Black 7, Verano 5, Go 5, Ikeh 4, Tio 2, Mamuyac 0, Mendoza 0, Porter 0
DLSU 70 – Melecio 24, Rivero R 10, Mbala 8, Tratter 7, Santillan 7, Rivero P 7, Baltazar 4, Montalbo 3, Caracut 0, Go 0, Tero 0, Paraiso 0
QUARTER SCORES: 26-14, 43-39, 60-58, 76-70