INQUIRER Sports

MANILA, Philippines--Emotions ran high but seasoned Chris Tiu kept his cool in the final stretch as the Ateneo Blue Eagles tripped defending champion La Salle with a 79-73 triumph in the 71st UAAP men's basketball competition Sunday in front of a 22,008-strong capacity crowd at the Araneta Coliseum.

The Eagles turned to the foul line to score their last eight points, with Tiu accounting for six in the final 2:56 minutes of the blockbuster showdown.

"Every time we beat La Salle, it's always a big win for us," said Black. "It's a good win for us. We wanted to get off to a good start. The earlier you get that first victory, the better it's going to be for your confidence."

Tiu finished with a game-high 26 points on top of seven rebounds and two assists.

"That's what Chris Tiu does for us," said Ateneo coach Norman Black. " I said it over and over again that he's our best player and normally when it's clutch time we go to him. And he delivered for us again. He's just living up to his role

The drama between the country's fiercest varsity rivals, in fact, started early as officials slapped a technical foul on the Archers even before the jumpball for violating a league rule.

La Salle's coaching staff failed to wear their official IDs on court--a mandatory rule this season-- thus awarding the Eagles two free throws.

Tiu nailed both charity shots to give the Eagles a 2-0 lead even before the tip-off.

"I just couldn't understand all the fuss about the IDs," said coach Franz Pumaren. "The reason I wasn't wearing an ID was because I was watching the NU and UP game and the NU coaching staff weren't wearing their IDs. I also watched the game between UST and UE, UST didn't wear their IDs."

A Black outburst before the start of the the fourth quarter also fetched a technical "for disobeying the commissioner's order."

JV Casio shot two free throws for the Archers to knot the contest at 56.

"A referee warned me that if I said another word I'll get a technical, and I couldn't understand it because in the second half I didn't say a word," said Black after receiving his first technical since debuting 2005. "I didn't like it."

Yuri Escueta also merited a warning for taunting after the 5-foot-10 Ateneo point guard blocked the layup attempt of La Salle rookie LA Revilla early in the fourth period.

From a 71-71 deadlock, Tiu and Eric Salamat drew two straight fouls from Casio to push the Eagles ahead at 74-71.

After a Rico Maierhofer bucket trimmed the margin to 74-73, Tiu again fetched a pushing foul from La Salle rookie Hyram Bagatsing at the three-point arc

Tiu shook off a bad fall then sank two of three attempts to lift the Eagles at 76-73 with 38.6 ticks remaining.

Peejay Barua missed a potential game-tying triple as Escueta and Salamat buried three more foul shots in the last 20 seconds for the final tally.

Salamat added 10 points, while Rabeh Al-Hussaini collected 10 markers and eight boards for the Eagles.

"Our veterans played well, they stepped up and won the game for us," said Black.

The scores:


ATENEO 79--Tiu 26, Salamat 10, Al-Hussaini 10, Buenafe 8, Nkemakolam 7, Baclao 7, Burke 4, Austria 3, Long 2, Salva 1, Escueta 1, Baldos 0, Reyes 0.

LA SALLE 73-Casio 19, Maierhofer 16, Mangahas 13, Webb 7, Villanueva 4, Bagatsing 4, Revilla 3, Walsham 2, Atkins 2, Barua 2, Ferdinand 1, Malabes 0.

Quarters: 17-16, 35-40, 56-54, 79-73