Eagles shoot for clincher today

MANILA—Duplicating its Game 1 dominance isn’t exactly what Ateneo has in mind when it chases a  historic third straight championship today.   Although focused on playing another solid defensive game, the Blue Eagles brace for a tough fightback against an embarrassed Far Eastern University squad looking for a redeeming victory in Game 2 of the UAAP men’s basketball title series.   “We’re happy, we’re excited, but we’re not too overconfident at this point. We know FEU can bounce back,” said Ateneo coach Norman Black. “We know it’s only one game. It takes two games to win a championship series in the UAAP.”   Black, though, is confident his crew will be up for the hard grind in the 4 p.m. showdown Thursday at the Araneta Coliseum.   “We’ll do the same things we’ve been doing,” said Black. “Our offense is very balanced, that makes us a little unpredictable. At the same time, we want to run and have a fast-paced game. But the major thing for us is defending. If we’re going to win this championship series, it has to be on defense.”   While the Blue Eagles set their sights on the school’s first three-peat, the Tamaraws try to restore their tattered egos with a victory that will push the best-of-three series into a decider.   “I really hope that something positive will come out of that loss,” said FEU coach Glenn Capacio. “This will be a test of the team’s character.”   The Tamaraws, who looked a strong title contender until the championship playoffs started, had five days to figure out what went wrong in their 72-49 lopsided Game 1 loss to  the Blue Eagles.   In women’s action, the Lady Tamaraws also try to prevent the Adamson Lady Falcons from claiming a second straight crown in Game 2 of their own Finals series  at 11 a.m.    Amby Almazan and Anna Buendia will try to reprise their starring roles in the Lady Falcons’ 75-69 triumph over the Lady Tamaraws in the opener last Saturday.   The season’s top performers will be formally honored at 3 p.m. before the Ateneo-FEU tussle.   The Tamaraws dominated the individual awards with the MVP plum going to RR Garcia and the Rookie of the Year to Terrence Romeo, but the Blue Eagles are not bothered a bit.   “We did not get very many awards this year for individual play, did we,” said Black. “I think the players are really concentrated and focused on trying to get the big one, which is the championship.”   Kirk Long, Justin Chua and even seldom-used rookie JP Erram delivered key contributions in Game 1 where the top-seeded Tamaraws shot a measly 27 percent from the field and wound up scoreless on fastbreaks. 
 
It was the most lopsided Finals match since 1998 when La Salle routed the Tamaraws, 72-47, also in Game 1.   “Right now, we’re just concerned about ourselves and our team,” said Capacio. “We don’t want to think about Ateneo.

Their system is there, it’s a given. I’m more concerned on how the players will respond, if we’ve learned from that loss. But I’m hopeful that we can recover.”