The Ateneo Blue Eagles remained the only undefeated team in the UAAP as they beat the University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigers, 93-77, at the PhilSports Arena on July 19.

Ateneo managed to escape their slow-start trouble and went for a neck-to-neck rally with UST as Ryan Buenafe put in nine of his 14 points in the latter part of the first quarter, closing it at 30-21.

Emman Monfort hit triple after triple in the second quarter, giving the Eagles a comfortable 10-point lead. “[All of my three-pointers] were open shots. Lapse na sa defense nila yun (It’s a lapse in UST’s defense),” Monfort said.

The third canto saw the heroics of Kirk Long, Nonoy Baclao, and Monfort, who had a combined score of 13 markers.

The Hail Mary Squad saw their biggest lead of 24 points midway through the last quarter, 76-52, via Eric Salamat’s two-pointer. Rookies Juami Tiongson, Chris De Chavez, and Frank Golla also got their time on the hardcourt and sealed Ateneo’s win with another 8 points in the last minutes of the game.

Monfort was named player of the game with 20 markers off the bench, followed by Salamat and Buenafe who both contributed 14 points. Tightly-guarded Rabeh Al-Hussaini still managed to score 13 markers.

The Blue Eagles are currently at 3-0 and will face the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons on Sunday, July 26 at the PhilSports Arena.