If you were to ask me who I would vote as the Coach of the year in the 72nd UAAP season it has got to be Coach Lawrence Chongson of the UE Red Warriors. All along he knew that his team has what it takes to win the title, a few have doubted but who’s laughing now. After taking over the Red Warriors early this year, nobody ever gave his team any second look as their tag as chokers will just be there to haunt them come crunch time, but not this time around. After winning their first Final Four game and eventually match in 11 years, Coach Chongson is now on the verge of winning the much coveted UAAP title that has eluded them for 24 years as his 3rd seeded UE Warriors showed their no nonsense defense and firepower in winning against the top team in the UAAP, the Ateneo Blue Eagles with a masterful 88-68 win.
Eric Salamat disappeared again
After losing to the Blue Eagles in game 1 of the best of three championship series, Coach Chongson made some crucial adjustments. He started Paul Lee to get his game going and made Pari Llagas come off the bench. The gamble proved to be a masterful one as Paul Lee combined with Elmer Espiritu to torch the Blue Eagles in the first quarter. When the Eagles big man Rabah Al-Husaini sat down, his back up center Justin Chua had the task to take on Pari Llagas who eventually held his own as the first half ended with the Blue Eagles on top 40 - 38.
Rabah's efforts were not enough
Another gamble that Coach Chongson did was that he went to his zone defense the whole game. Realizing the fact that the reason why they came back from 17 points in the second game was that the Blue Eagles shot miserably from the outside. His ploy proved to be a good one as the Blue Eagles threw a lot of three pointers and only 20% went in. At the same time, everytime prized center Rabah Al-Husaini got the ball inside the paint he was met by three Warriors which led him to shoot jumpers. The result frustrated Rabah which was translated to a 44 -22 points in the paint deficit by the Blue Eagles against the Warriors.
Trust each other
The Red Warriors transformation made them more fresh come the third quarter as their big guns suddenly caught fire and stymied the Ateneo offense. Elmer Espiritu sank 4 three pointers plus his vaunted eye in the sky dunk was there enroute to 22 points on 8 of 13 field goals which is his way of bouncing back from his lethargic 8 point output in game 1. Pari Llagas, Val Acuña and Paul Lee all scored in double figures while their second unit also came with their guns blazing as Rudy Lingganay, Raffy Reyes, and Lucas Tagarda all made great contributions specially in the defensive end.
Nonoy scores
The Red Warriors exploded for 25 third quarter points while they limited the Blue Eagles to just 13. The Warriors showed great heart, determination and hunger in making sure that they secure this win and march on to upset the highly touted Blue Eagles. The momentum is definitely on the UE side and if they come to win, they will duplicate the feat of the Blue Eagles who went on to win 8 straight games in 2002 to secure the third seeding and beat the five-peat seeking Green Archers. If the Blue Eagles win this time, they will also repeat what their 2002 counterparts did, win game 1, lose game 2 by a big margin and regroup in game 3. Thursday will both teams will play for all the marbles. Go Blue Eagles, lets move on, rise up and win the title.
A dejected Rabah Al-Husaini
The Scores
UE (88)
Espiritu 22, Llagas 19, Lee 13, Acuña 12, Lingganay 7, Reyes 6, Zamar 5, Duran 4, Tagarda 0, Bandaying 0
ATENEO (68)
Al-Husaini 18, Monfort 12, Reyes 11, Baclao 10, Austria 6, Salamat 4, Long 3, Chua 2, Buenafe 2, Sumalinog 0, Salva 0
Quarter scores:
18 – 15, 38-40, 63 – 53, 88- 68
The girls failed to inspire the boys
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