2008 UAAP Result: Ateneo denies DLSU outright No. 2

The Ateneo De Manila University Blue Eagles made life a little harder for their archnemesis De La Salle University Green Archers as they stopped the latter from claiming the No. 2 slot, and the twice-to-beat incentive that goes with it, outright with an impressive 65 - 57 win at the end of eliminations of UAAP Season 71 Men's Basketball.

JV Casio and the Archers suffered an ill-timed horrendous shooting that left the door open for the FEU Tamaraws. Both DLSU and FEU ended the elimations tied with 10 - 4 cards. They will now have a virtual best-of-three series the winner of which will advance to the finals.

The Eagles rode on a perfect start and never looked back to sweep the Archers in the elimation round and relegate them(Archers) to a harder route to reach the finals.
Last year, the Eagles won three out of their five meetings but saw the Archers holding out the crown.

JV Casio delivered arguably the worst performance of his UAAP career in a game they needed more to win, making only two out of 16 attempts.

With their main gunner shooting blanks, DLSU shot only 3/22 3 point field goals despite leading the league in that category.

Chris Tiu scored 7 points in the first quarter to lead the Eagles to a great start. DLSU shot poorly and turned the ball over a lot to fall behind 21 - 12 after the first.

The Archers played better in the second, forced the Eagles to turnovers but failed to make headway, still down 36 - 28 after the first half.

Simon Atkins scored 5 straight points from the outside to push the Archers at the start of the second half 33 - 36.

Nonoy Baclao scored seven straight points including his first trey of the season to carry the team before the Eagles closed the quarter with a 16 - 6 run for a 13 point lead going in the fourth.

Despite its poor shooting, Ateneo could not break the game wide open.

Casio finally scored on the fourth on a free throw. His fast break basket anwered Chris Tiu's lay in La Salle cut the lead to six. Rico Maierhoffer's three help the Archers inched closer 57 - 62 with only 3:26 in the game.

Nonoy Baclao once again answered with a basket and the Eagles held the Archers scoreless the rest of the way. Jai Reyes free throw rounded the scoring 65 - 57.

If there's one team that is really happy with Ateneo's win, it would be the Tamaraws. Not only do they have a chance to reach finals, Ateneo may have shown them what they need to do to beat La Salle in their best of three showdown.