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Monday, September 05, 2005
Mendoza: UP versus Ateneo
By Alfonso "Dayong" J. Mendoza Jr.
Dayong's Corner
A UNIVERSITY of the Philippine basketball team loyalist and alumnus asked me, "What the hell is going wrong?" It has been almost 30 years since he graduated from UP yet his passion to cheer and jeer for his alma mater is as hot as pan de sal freshly baked in the early morning.
Seated at the other side where many UP students and alumni were bunched at the Blue Eagle Gym in Ateneo, the crowd witnessed how the Ateneo squad simply erased the UP Maroons advantage. It's the UAAP games. The sub plot was simply known as the "Battle of Katipunan". The campus of UP and Ateneo overlap each other in the busy road of Katipunan Avenue, hence a battle of sorts.
But more than that, it could be a battle of wit, too. If you have the money, then let your child take the difficult entrance exam of Ateneo. Tuition fee in Ateneo is no joke. If you want great quality education with very friendly fees, then take the difficult UPCAT- the UP admission test.
UP raced to an early lead thanks mainly to talented point guard Marvin Cruz. But Ateneo Head Coach Norman Black reserved some textbook tricks as the game progressed. It caught the eye of Coach Leo Austria, sweating just like me as we sat quietly in the roaring howls. "Black is gaining the advantage thru his shuffling of players," Austria whispers.
"This game has been all about conditioning. We hardly see any team scoring from setting up their plays. They score on broken plays and transition offense," Austria comments. The 40-minute game tested which team had more air to run.
Uncontested fast break lay-ups by Ateneo over took UP's intensity. A double reverse hand slam-dunk of reed thin Blue Eagle Japeth Aguilar virtually doomed the Maroons. Final score went to Ateneo 67 and 57 for UP
Anytime the opposing center (Aguilar is 6'7) sprints and dunks with impunity, that is the answer to the question on what went wrong.
Who will win the UAAP crown?
email at dayongscorner@yahoo.com
(September 5, 2005 issue)
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