While the Blue Eagles were busy preparing for the Finals for the
first time, the first setback came in the news that ace rookie
center Danny Francisco was rushed to the hospital because of complications with
his lungs. The news really sent negative vibes to the Ateneo
community because the feeling was that we would not be able to match up with
the ace center of the Warriors, Jerry Codinera, who scored 32 points the last
time around the two teams met. The team’s answer – next man up –
Alex Araneta will be ready to play more minutes against Codinera! The school
had another cheer rally to invite everyone to the Rizal Memorial Coliseum for
the first finals appearance of the Blue Eagles since losing that 1977
closed-door title game in the NCAA and it took ten years for the Blue Eagles to
get there.
When: October 4, 1987, where: Rizal Memorial Coliseum who: Ateneo
students and alumni: 90 % the capacity of the RMC! They came in droves, the
Blue Eagle fanatics who have been following the core of the team since they
were Blue Eaglets! The hecklers, the new fanatics who did not go to the Ateneo
HS but have been following the Blue Eagles flight and were there watching the
games leading to the championship game. The Alumni, new and old specially the
ones who were frustrated not to have cheered the Blue Eagles in that fateful
closed-door game. The decades old Coliseum named after an Ateneo
Alumnus was packed to the rafters and the Ateneans are ready to cheer their
heart out for their first UAAP Finals. Prior to the Men’s Championship game,
the Ateneo Women’s Basketball team made it to the finals but unfortunately lost
to the more experienced UST Women’s Basketball team. Nevertheless, the women’s
team led by point guard Mitch Lazaro, two sport star Frannie Severino, Luisa
Kimpo and our own scoring machine Peachy Cheng showed class in their
loss to the UST belles. Peachy Cheng to my knowledge is the first and only
Atenean to score 40 points in the UAAP. She scored 40 when Lady Eagles lost to
FEU 85 -73 in their seventh game and also scored 39 points in their opening day
win against UE 65 – 59. Peachy is the first woman to be included in the
prestigious Ateneo Sports Hall of Fame.
THE FIRST HALF
The Blue Eagles started with Alex Araneta at center, Jun Reyes and
Nonoy Chuatico as the guards while JV Gayoso and Seph Canlas started at the
forward positions. Canlas was inserted to the frontline so that Eric Reyes can
double back as center since Danny Francisco will not be
around. On the other side of the court, Jerry Codinera starts
in the middle, Conrado Barile and Vilmer Banares while David Zamar and Vernie
Villarias are at the guard positions. Again, coaching the Warriors
is veteran Coach Roehl Nadurata who has come back from the middle east to lead
the Warriors for their 19th title, the one they did not get the
previous year. When the game finally started the Blue Eagles opened with a
field goal by JV Gayoso but after that became flat with misses on
the drive and was forced to four immediate turnovers. On the
other side of the court Conrado Barile started things for the Warriors with
Zamar, Banares and Codinera backing him up to go up 10- 2 in the early stages
of the game. Since Nonoy Chuatico and JV Gayoso burned the Warriors
in their last two games the recto based squad closed the lanes for Gayoso that
resulted in missed field goals and started with a box and one to force Chuatico
to misses from the outside. What UE was doing was giving Ateneo the outside
shot and was egging them to take it and not drive to the basket which they did with much
success the first two games. Because of this the Blue Eagles became reactive in
plays while poor execution and poor shot selection on the half-court game
showed that the Blue Eagles were neophytes in the finals. The only silver
lining in the first half of the Blue Eagles was that Jerry Codinera
was whistled with three fouls. It was then that the warriors unleashed their
surprise package in their back-up center Jojo Mariquit in the last ten minutes of the game. Since
Mariquit just spelled Codinera sparingly before, this time he got more minutes
and scored six points on jump hooks, grabbed some rebounds and help stem the
tide as the Warriors went to Barile who exploded for 11 points, Banares and
Villarias who each got nine points for a 51 – 38 halftime lead.
NEXT BLOG: THE 1987 UAAPCHAMPIONSHIP - SECOND HALF
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