THE ATENEO Blue Eagles succumb to the tournament’s defending champions, San Beda College Red Lions, in the battle for the quarterfinals second seed, 82- 73, on Sunday, June 5 at the Filoil Flying V Arena in San Juan City.
This puts the Blue Eagles at third seed with a win- loss standing of 4-3 in the Fil Oil Preseason Premier Cup. Final rankings have yet to be determined after the game between the Adamson Falcons and the University of the East Red Warriors, in which the former is aiming to be put to a tie with the Blue Eagles.
The Red Lions maintained the lead primarily throughout the match, with the Blue Eagles trailing by as much as 10 points and only managing to tie the game twice in all four quarters. Starting forward Thirdy Ravena led the way for the Ateneo squad with double digits in points and rebounds, putting in 22 of the team’s 73 to shoot 67% from the field, fueling a struggling offense that made only 30 out of 76 field goals.
Down by 5 points going into the second period, the Blue Eagles were brought back to life by a rally sparked by Ravena and Aaron Black. A series of drives by the tandem and from back-to-back triples by rookie Tyler Tio brought the team within striking distance of the tournament’s defending champions to cut the deficit to a 34-33 game. The rain began to fall from three-point territory near the half as consecutive triples from San Beda’s AC Soberano and a shot from beyond the arc by Adrian Wong turned the tide at 40-36 to end the first half.
The beginning of the third quarter saw the Blue Eagles’ take in the reign. Ravena engineered the Ateneo attack to render the San Beda defense helpless, with Kris Porter hitting a three from the top of the key that tightened the deadlock at 44-44. The Lions broke away, capitalizing off turnovers, but pinpoint shooting and successive triples from Black and Ravena restored the stalemate at 54-52. San Beda’s Soberano answered back with a triple of his own, with foul- trouble spelling misfortune for the Blue Eagles who ended the quarter at 61-58.
Ateneo staged another rally as the last 10 minutes played out. Ravena continued his streak pulling up jumpers and masterminding plays that kept the Lions’ advantage within reach. Chibueze Ikeh scraped a valuable 4 points off consecutive offensive rebounds, which put the team only 5 points away from the tie at 74-69.
However, the inability to convert on offense and a crucial lapse on the Ateneo defense led to a costly foul by Ikeh on opposing center Nono Noah, which produced a 9-point deficit with 12 seconds left in the game. With time against them, there was barely anything the Blue Eagles could do to save the game, giving the San Beda Red Lions the win and allowing the defending champions to take second place in Group B.
Box Scores:
Ateneo: Ravena- 22, Black- 10, Ikeh- 9, A. Wong- 8, Tio- 5, J. Nieto- 4, Babilonia- 4, Go- 4, Porter- 3, Mendoza- 2, Asistio- 2, V. Tolentino- 2
San Beda College: Tankoua- 20, Soberano- 15, Mocon- 11, Bolick- 9, Sara- 8, Noah- 6, Oflana- 5, Tongco- 2, Presbiterio- 2, Bonsubre- 2, Carlos- 2
Quarter scores (Ateneo- SBC): 14- 19, 36- 40, 56- 61, 73- 82
