AFTER BEING down virtually the entire game, Team Glory Be of the Ateneo Men’s Basketball team uncorked a massive 13-0 run early in the fourth quarter to turn a 62-64 deficit to a 75-61 lead. The Blue Eagles punched their ticket to the finals of the Milcu-Got Skills Elite Showcase tournament by defeating the Adamson Soaring Falcons-B, 88-78, last Sunday, September 6, inside the Enderun Colleges gymnasium in Taguig City.

Led by former De La Salle Green Archer Terrence Mustre, the Soaring Falcons opened the game on fire from the outside as they made a ton of three-point shots to frustrate the Blue and White early on. This onslaught forced the Blue Eagles to change their defense constantly to try and contain their opponents.

With the team down 38-42 after the halftime break, the charges of Head Coach Yuri Escueta turned up their defensive pressure—forcing their opponents to commit costly turnovers, which led to easy baskets in transition. The Blue Eagles tasted their first lead at 45-44 with eight minutes left in the quarter on a thunderous slam from CJ “Baby Beast” Perez.

The contest remained a virtual back-and-forth affair, with the Soaring Falcons’ timely outside shooting keeping them in the game. The start of the payoff period, however, was a totally different story. A Kris Porter putback in the nine-minute mark gave the Blue and White their first lead of the quarter at 62-61, but was quickly answered by a three-pointer from Jessiery Pedrosa to give the lead back to the Soaring Falcons again.

However, that shot would be Adamson’s last basket in a five-minute stretch where the Blue and White went on a blistering 13-0 run. Perez, Porter, and Earl Murphy scored all the points during that run—prompting Adamson to call a timeout only after the damage had been done.

“Baby Beast” would once again lead the Blue and White with a solid double-double performance, finishing with a game-high 30 points and 10 rebounds on a steady 10/17 shooting clip. Veterans Earl Murphy and Kris Porter finished the game with 17 and 13 points, respectively, while rookie Marc Salandanan scored 12 points on four triples that kept the team in the game early on.

In the one-game do-or-die finals, the Blue Eagles will go up against the National University Bulldogs as they try to avenge their only loss of the season in pursuit of the title.

Box Scores:

Ateneo 88 – Perez 30, Murphy 17, Porter 13, Salandanan 12, Cariño 5, Micek 4, Asistio 3, Javelosa 2, T. Ramos 2, Cu 0, Wong 0, Gamboa 0, M. Ramos 0, Asuncion 0.

Quarter Scores: 14-20, 38-42, 57-59, 88-78.