By NIKOLE JAVIER
Ateneo’s timely surge was too much to contain and scored a 97-77 win over a hard-luck University of Santo Tomas side in the first round of the UAAP Season 86 men’s basketball tournament on Wednesday, Oct. 18, at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
After a tight contest in the first three quarters, the Eagles caught the Tigers napping early in the payoff period which they took full advantage to win pulling away – good to improve their record to 3-3.
That vital stretch, in sharp contrast, made the Tigers and their avid supporters almost tearful – some were even furious – as they absorbed their sixth straight loss and 19th overall – their longest losing streak in league history –
Chris Koon top-scored for the Blue Eagles with an all-around effort of 21 points, six rebounds and five assists, while Kai Ballungay and Joseph Obasa contributed 17 points apiece.
Rookie star Mason Amos, for his part, had an impressive 15-point finish in the balanced effort.
The Blue Eagles were barely hanging tough against the Growling Tigers’ determined fightback, 62-58, in the third quarter.
Ateneo, however, regained its scoring touch and zoomed to its biggest lead of the match, 94-73, on Amos’ back-to-back baskets with 1:31 remaining.
From then on, the game was as good as done despite UST’s late-minute efforts.
“Just briefly I thought on both ends of the floor, we gave, more or less, a good performance. Held the tough UST team. I know the record doesn’t flatter them, but you know how tough they are. Still too many turnovers on our part and we need to do better than that. Generally speaking, it was a good game and we need that kind of performance going into the UP game. We have a very, very happy dug out [right now],” Ateneo head coach Tab Baldwin said.
Nic Cabanero and Christian Manaytay paced UST anew with 21 and 17 points, respectively.
The scores:
ATENEO 97 – Koon 21, Ballungay 17, Obasa 17, Amos 15, Espinosa 6, Chiu 6, Gomez 5, Brown 3, Celis 3, Lazaro 2, Credo 2, Quitevis 0, Bongo 0, Tuano 0, Nieto 0, Gamber 0.
UST 77 – Cabañero 21, Manaytay 17, Pangilinan 11, Crisostomo 8, Duremdes 7, Laure 5, Manalang 5, Calum 3, Moore 0, Lazarte 0, Llemit 0, Gesalem 0.
Quarters: 17-10, 40-33, 72-61, 97-77.
