SILENCE COMES this time around for the Ateneo Blue Eagles as their comeback attempt was shut down by the depleted University of the Philippines (UP) Fighting Maroons, 60-65, earlier today at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.
Right outside the top four picture, this heartbreaking loss puts the Blue Eagles at fifth place, with four wins and five losses. Meanwhile, UP sits comfortably atop of the standings, holding a 8-1 win-loss card.
Jared Brown poured 18 points on four three-pointers in a losing effort while starting center Joseph Obasa notched a double-double with 11 points and 16 rebounds.
Meanwhile, it was Gerry Abadiano and Malick Diouf who stepped up for the Fighting Maroons as the six-foot guard dropped a game-high 22 points while the Season 85 MVP tallied 10 points and 17 boards.
Offense was not the name of the game for both teams as each squad struggled to make their shots. The Blue Eagles’ woes came through its same-old turnover problems while the Fighting Maroons lacked the services of household players JD Cagulangan and CJ Cansino due to injury and illness respectively.
Ateneo would eventually get their biggest lead of the entire game as Jared Brown fired a three-pointer from deep to put the Blue and White ahead by five, 9-4, with 3:30 left on the clock.
With less than three minutes left, UP’s backcourt boosted the trailing squad’s offensive game by sparking a 7-2 run. Gerry Abadiano’s crafty stepback jumper capped off the first canto, 11-11.
Familiar faults on the offense continued to haunt both teams for the second quarter. Combined with a tightly-officiated game, the scoring remained dry as another Abadiano fading jumper at the five minute mark would put the Fighting Maroons ahead by two, 19-17.
The scoring began to pick up for the Blue Eagles as Mason Amos’ three and Ian Espinosa’s freebies helped the Loyola Heights-based squad control the lead, 22-19.
UP Frontcourt’s Lebron Lopez and Malick Diouf then assumed the offensive burden of the Season 84 champions, scoring the next 10 baskets through drives and high-percentage shots. Lopez’s spectacular kickout to Diouf stood out during their scoring stint, as it gave UP a three-point advantage, 27-24.
As the culminating seconds of the first half approached, Co-Captain Sean Quitevis nabbed a crucial steal on the defensive end and immediately sprinted on the break for an and-one, 30-29. With seven seconds left in the half, Abandiano drilled a deep shot at the buzzer to put UP in the driver’s seat, 32-30.
In the Blue Eagles’ first offensive sequence out of the halftime break, Quitevis quickly put the defending champions back in front, 33-32, after his pull-up three off the inbound pass. The Fighting Maroons quickly responded with two quick Lopez baskets that saw the game’s ninth lead change at the 7:10 mark, 33-37. UP continuously shot at a deadly clip throughout the third, with Harold Alarcon’s two-point make further sinking the Blue Eagles, 35-44, with 4:21 left in the canto.
Despite Brown floating up a two for a quick answer, Terrence Fortea sank two deadly buckets in back-to-back UP possessions, putting Ateneo in a sizable 37-49 hole with 2:25 to go in the quarter. While the Blue and White revved up its effort on the offensive glass to end the frame, they misfired on a number of their second-chance opportunities, ending the quarter in a 39-49 deficit.
With poor offensive nights from many of Ateneo’s offensive weapons, Brown kept the Loyola Heights-based unit’s chances alive, retaliating Abadiano’s triple with his own to begin the final frame, 42-52. Offensive rebounds also gave the defending champs a better path to a comeback, with Ballungay and Obasa producing second-chance points in a hurry to cut the UP lead to 46-54 with 7:33 remaining. Brown continued his second half heroics shortly after, splashing a trey to bring Ateneo within five, 49-54, in the final 6:54.
Ballungay took after Brown’s red-hot shooting, knocking down a much-needed triple following a UP turnover for a momentous 10-0 Ateneo run that made it a 52-54 contest with 6:31 left. The Blue Eagles applied suffocating pressure to UP’s ball handlers in their late-game blitz, leaving them scoreless for a considerable stretch in the fourth. It was Brown that deadlocked the contest at 54-apiece with a lethal two, but Alarcon swiftly stopped the bleeding for UP with a three at the 4:51 mark, 54-57.
The game remained within a single possession after Abadiano and Credo’s exchange saw the quarter pinned at a 59-57 UP lead at the 2:51 point of the fourth. With a chance for Ateneo to take the lead, Chris Koon gave up a costly turnover with just 93 seconds left to play, leading to consecutive UP makes on the other end, 57-63.
As the momentum-less Ateneo stared down a six-point margin, Amos remained firm and converted a massive corner three to cut the deficit. Despite stepping up defensively to leave the Fighting Maroons without any made field goals in the final minute, Ateneo failed to cash in on the offensive end with their questionable final-second shot selection, crumbling in a 60-65 loss.
When asked about the last possession where Obasa and Brown ran a failed pick-and-roll action while being down by three, Head Coach Tab Baldwin defended Brown’s decision despite the rookie guard initially calling for an isolation three against Diouf.
“We had a chance. This season has had a lot of that for us. We’ve come out on the short end too many times. How many times have I said growth, right?” asserted the Ateneo tactician.
An overall inefficient night on offense spelled doom for the Tab Baldwin-coached unit, as the squad shot a combined 22/67 from the field for a dry 32.8% rate. Notably, primary offensive centerpieces and veterans Koon and Ballungay had a rough time finding the bottom of the net, going 0/10 and 3/9 on field goal attempts, respectively.
With the defending champions currently out of the Final Four picture, they will head into all final five elimination games as crucial outings. The Blue Eagles will take on the National University Bulldogs at the Mall of Asia Arena in their next assignment on Saturday, November 4, at 4:00 PM.
Box scores:
Ateneo (60): Brown – 18, Obasa – 11, Amos – 10, Quitevis – 8, Ballungay – 7, Credo – 3, Espinosa – 2, Chiu – 1
UP (65): Abadiano – 22, Alarcon – 10, Diouf – 10, Lopez – 10, Fortea – 7, Felicilda – 4, Torculas – 2
Quarter scores:
Ateneo-UP: 11-11, 30-32, 39-49, 60-65
Current Standings (W-L)
- UP Fighting Maroons (8-1)
- NU Bulldogs (7-2)
- DLSU Green Archers (6-3)
- ADU Soaring Falcons (4-5)
- ATENEO Blue Eagles (4-5)
- UE Red Warriors (3-6)
- FEU Tamaraws (3-6)
- UST Growling Tigers (1-8)
