Even if they were against a rowdy University of the Philippines crowd on Saturday evening, the Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles seemed unperturbed.
This, because they faced a much boisterous crowd back in the summer.
For their off-season preparation, the defending Men’s Basketball champions took a route less traveled by collegiate teams. They joined the William Jones Cup – a tournament ruled by pro clubs, national teams, and, of course, the home team Chinese-Taipei.
“Well, yung mindset namin as a team – nung paglabas namin sa MOA, nakita namin sila sa surroundings, sabi ko, hindi ba naranasan na natin ‘to?” disclosed Matt Nieto.
“Yung Taipei Jones Cup experience namin?”
Even if the Philippines did not send a national team, the Taiwanese still flocked the Xinzhuang Gymnasium, as every Philippines-Chinese Taipei game is a must-watch for the home team.
But the 6-foot floor general made sure to silence the crowd.
Down by a point with 3.1 ticks remaining, Thirdy Ravena was able to find Matt Nieto from the other end of the floor to put Ateneo up. Nieto calmly sank a triple with .29 seconds to spare.
And that moment made the Blue Eagles ready for anything.
“Sabi ko we were overpowered by the Taiwanese when we went up against them. So this is nothing new for us.”
One-hundred and thirty-three days later, Nieto once again took charge, finishing with a career-high 27 points to lead Ateneo to an 88-79 Game One win to silence the UP crowd.
Though they were loud, Nieto shared that it was fun playing against UP because of their supporters. And he can’t wait to have another dance with them come Game Two.
“Yung crowd nila, ibang-iba sa Ateneo-La Salle. Their crowd is bigger, they are noisier and rowdier. Yung crowd namin is the same from Ateneo-La Salle. Hindi sila nawawalan ng pag-asa,” said the senior Atenean.
“Pero yung UP, talagang intense at gusto nilang manalo. Ikaw pa naman, thirty-two years hindi makapasok sa Finals? So we understand.”
