Blue Eagles soar with Big Ben ‘missing’ for Archers

From a monster game of 28 points and 19 rebounds to eight points and 12 boards the second time around.

That summed up the huge turnaround in form of reigning league MVP Ben Mbala that helped doom defending champion La Salle Saturday and moved arch-rival Ateneo within a win of wresting the UAAP Season 80 basketball championship this Wednesday.

After missing five of his 10 free throws, Thirdy Ravena redeemed himself with a putback and an assist that Isaac Go turned into a three-point play to secure the 76-70 victory by the Eagles in the opener of their best-of-three title series.

But the disappearing act of Mbala in the most important game of the season was easily the key factor in Ateneo’s second win in three meetings with La Salle this season. The 6-foot-7 Cameroonian center, who is set to nail a second MVP plum with his average of 26 points and 13 rebounds, ran into foul trouble early, showed none of his myriad offensive moves in that 28-point, 19-rebound explosion that ended Ateneo’s 13-game streak last Nov. 12, and wound up with his lowest output ever since joining La Salle last year.

It took the unexpected offensive resurgence of former Rookie of the Year Aljun Melecio to get the Archers back in the game after trailing by 13 at 27-14 early in the second quarter. Melecio, who led all scorers with 24 points, briefly gave La Salle the lead at 57-56 in the third period then made it a down-the-wire struggle by cutting Ateneo’s 69-59 advantage to 71-70 with barely three minutes left.

But Ravena, who led La Salle with 12 points, struck with a putback and later found Go free under the basket for the three-point play that settled the issue with 10.4 left. For the burly center Go, it was payback time after his big boo-boo of an undergoal miss that paved the way for La Salle’s 79-76 decision of Ateneo and ended the Eagles’ bid for a 14th straight win in the eliminations. Go has since redeemed himself by playing hero when Ateneo ousted Far Eastern University with an 88-84 overtime decision in their Final Four playoff for the right to challenge La Salle early last week. He fired a triple that forced the extension then scored on a followup while he was on his way down after losing his balance during a rebound to wrap it up.

Unless the old Mbala shows up and goes into attack mode Wednesday, a ninth title overall looms for the Eagles, who last won in 2012 when they completed a five-straight title romp under coach Norman Black. Ateneo is also going for a fourth conquest in six head-to-head title showdowns with La Salle since both former NCAA teams joined the league in the 70s.

A possible rubber match is likely to be held Saturday.