INQUIRER Sports

MANILA, Philippines?Franz Pumaren watched ?a monster? gobble up the De La Salle University Green Archers in Game 1 of the UAAP men?s basketball finals. But college basketball?s most decorated coach believes that it will take more than that for the Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles to swallow the Archers whole.

?We may be down but [we?re] not out,? Pumaren warned, after Ateneo hammered out a 69-61 victory at the Araneta Coliseum that put the Eagles ahead in the short footrace to the UAAP men?s basketball crown.

With star playmaker Chris Tiu and top defender Nonoy Baclao hobbled by foul trouble, Ateneo turned to prized center Rabeh Al-Hussaini and its band of role players Sunday night to take Game 1.

Al-Hussaini proved unstoppable on his way to scoring a game-high 31 points in a performance that underlined his worth as the top contender for the Most Valuable Player award.

Pumaren acknowledged that Al-Hussaini hurt the Archers? he could only watch helplessly while the 6-foot-6 beanpole trashed his undersized frontline.

?Rabeh had a monster game today,? Pumaren said.

But Pumaren thinks it was the Archers? inability to maximize their possessions after forcing 23 Ateneo turnovers that did them in.

?Obviously, we didn?t bring our A-game today. We couldn?t convert on our possessions,? said the five-time UAAP champion coach after the Archers shot a season-low 28.6 percent from the field.

Except for JV Casio, who finished with 20 points and Rico Maierhofer who had 17, no other Archer finished in double-figures. They were also outrebounded, 44-40 and although they had 19 points off turnovers, they only had two second-chance points.

?I?m still confident. It takes two wins to win this series and we just need some toughness down the stretch to take Game 2 on Thursday,? he added.

Rookie of the year frontrunner Ryan Buenafe picked up the scoring slack in when Tiu sat down because of fouls and shot 12 points in the first half to go with his 11 rebounds and five assists.

?It just so happened that our veterans were in foul trouble,? said Buenafe, a go-to-guy during his high school hoop days with San Sebastian. ?It was just like in high school. I really needed to step up. We were very determined to win.?