Blue Eagles win opener against the Falcons

Kiefer dunked the ball twice in the second quarter

Kiefer Ravena has played only against one team in the three season openers he has played - the Adamson Soaring Falcons. In his UAAP Seniors debut in 2011 he was held scoreless by the defenes of Coach Leo Austria. A year wiser in 2012 he scored 9 points in another historic win. Last year, Kiefer watched the team lose three straight because of an injury and in his first game back did you know what team he played against? Yes, the Adamson Soaring Falcons again. Kiefer came off the bench in that win to score four points. This year, Kiefer led the new look Blue Eagles to a convincing 79 -57 win against the Soaring Falcons as the Phenom showed the entire UAAP what he is capable of doing.

Chris Newsome scores on this jumper 

Kiefer showed why he is nicknamed the Phenom as he showed his whole arsenal on a variety of things that he is capable of doing. Kiefer scored on drives, he sank jumpers, he made a three-pointer and to cap it all up he scored two emphatic dunks in a game that literally made him light up the stat sheets. Kiefer scored 22 points, pulled down four rebounds, made four assists and blocked a shot. This is the real Kiefer Ravena who is ready to fulfill a promise to his alma mater when he arrived in 2011.

Nico Elorde on a teardrop move

Coming to his aide were the other veterans of the team, Chris Newsome, Von Pessumal and Nico Elorde. Newsome was calm and composed, he did not push things and he scored when needed. ON the other hand, Von Pessumal has taken the task of being the team's mad bomber - his 8 points came from two trhee pointers and a twisting lay up that started from the free throw line which made the Blue Eagle faithfuls excited. Nico Elorde was his usual tough self as he ran rings round the Falcons 2-2-1 pressure defense and came up with an occasional tear drop to score 6 points which he added with 4 assists.

Arvin Tolentino for three

If the veterans were exceptional, the rookies were sensational.  Leading this year's freshmen is the 2013 NCAA Juniors Finals MVP Arvin Tolentino who showed that all the hype about him is true.  Arvin started slow but eventually scored his first two points on a spin move and then followed it up with two three pointers and another field goal on a drive to give him 10 points in the first half of his UAAP debut. He would end up scoring 12 points in the game.

John Apacible posts down low

Another promising rookie is big boy John Apacible who showed that he too can mix it up with the big boys. The third rookie who showed signs of brilliance is Apacible's sparring mate from Hope Christian High School, Clint Doliguez who showed that he can defend well and also score in the short minutes that he played. The fourth rookie Jay Javelosa played in the latter part of the game. Jay got two offensive rebounds and scored on those two opportunities. Lastly, last year's UAAP Juniors MVP Thirdy Ravena was quite jittery and just like his older brother went scoreless in his UAAP Seniors debut.

 Von Pessumal on the drive 

The Blue Eagles started like a house on fire as Kiefer started the game with a jumper then Chris Newsome, G-Boy Babilonia and Nico Elorde added eight points to give the Eagles an early 10 - 1 lead in the first four minutes of the game. After Adamson called a timeout, the Blue Eagles went to overdrive as Kiefer and Von Pessumal scored a three pointer each to lead the Hail Mary squad a 24 -11 first quarter lead.

Ponso Gotladera scores on a reverse lay up 

The Falcons played catch up the whole game but with a line up of 11 rookies it was hard for rookie coach Kenneth Duremdes to come out with a steady rotation. In contrast, Coach Bo Perasol used a full court pressure defense to delay the Falcons offense and have them take hurried shots in the last five seconds. His ploy eventually worked since the Falcons had a lot of 24 second violations.  The new look defense of the  Blue Eagles also showed that they can clog the paint with their bigs as transferee Ponso Gotladera, G-Boy Babilonia, Tolentino and Apacible clogged the lanes which made the Adamson bigs bleed for their points.  The Blue Eagle defense was so stingy in the first half that the Falcons only managed to score 20 points and their offense came at the time when the game was beyond recall and the Blue Eagles had their rookies in the game during the last 4 minutes of the fourth quarter. Unfortunately, the best that the Falcons could do was bring down a 27 point deficit to 22 and never came close to threaten the Katipunan based Blue Eagles.

Rookie Clint Doliguez scores on this pass from Kiefer

The next stop for the Blue Eagles would be the defending champion De La Salle Green Archers who are coming out from an opening day loss to the team they ousted last year - the FEU Tamaraws. This will be the ultimate test for the Blue Eagles and for them to win the Blue Eagle offense must click while their defense should be unforgiving.  It's gonna be Nico Elorde vs. Thomas Torres, Kiefer Ravena vs. Almond Vosotros, Chris Newsome against Jeron Teng, Arvin Tolentino vs. Jason Perkins and Ponso Gotladera vs. Arnold Van Opstal. The season of the Blue Eagles has just started and a win against our archrivals will surely boost the confidence of the Hail Mary squad. See you in the games.

John Apacible is fouled 

The scores

ATENEO de MANILA (79)
K. Ravena 22, Newsome 12, Tolentino 12, Pessumal 8, Elorde 6, Apacible 4, Javelosa 4, Assistio 3, Capacio 2, Gotladera 2, Babilonia 2, Doliguez 2, V. Tolentino 0, K.Ravena 0, Lim 0, Porter 0

ADAMSON (57)

Villanueva 15, Rios 15, Trollano 7, Ochea 7, Iñigo 4, Gumtang 4, Baytan 2, Aquino 2, Polican 0,  Monteclaro 0, Barrera 0, Garcia 0

Quarterscores: 24 - 11, 47 - 20, 62 - 35, 79 - 57

Jay Javelosa scores on a putback