THE ATENEO Blue Eagles imposed their will on the University of the Philippines (UP) Fighting Maroons, claiming an 89-63 victory and sweeping the first round in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines Season 82 Men’s Basketball Tournament, on Sunday, September 29, at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City. The Blue Eagles’ win raises them to a 7-0 record, while UP drops to 5-2.
Ange Kouame’s 19 points, 15 rebounds, and seven blocks led the way for the Blue and White. Matt Nieto dropped 18 points, while SJ Belangel and Will Navarro both hit season-highs of 12 and 14 points, respectively. Thirdy Ravena also played a big role in the win, churning out 13 points of his own.
The Fighting Maroons’ effort was spearheaded by Kobe Paras’ 15 points, albeit on 4/16 shooting from the field. Javi Gomez de Liaño and Jun Manzo chipped in 14 and 12 markers, respectively.
The highly-anticipated matchup got off to a furious start, as both heavyweights came out of the gates battling to seize control of the proceedings. The first half saw either squad trading short runs, resulting in six lead changes before halftime. Just as UP looked like they were gaining a foothold, an 18-8 run by Ateneo gave them a 35-31 advantage heading into the break.
The Blue Eagles never looked back from there. An Adrian Wong triple punctuated a ruthless 17-4 run, catapulting Ateneo into a commanding lead, 52-35. As the game moved further out of reach for the Fighting Maroons, UP’s Head Coach Bo Perasol was thrown out of the game for running onto the court and screaming in the face of an official in protest of a call. Ateneo dominated the rest of the game and found themselves 26 points clear at the final buzzer.
Despite witnessing one of his team’s best performances of the season, Head Coach Tab Baldwin still sees a lot for their squad to build on. “Right now we have a lot of basketball ahead of us in a short period of time, so we don’t have the luxury to take a breath and talk about any accomplishments. In our eyes, there aren’t any accomplishments yet,” said Baldwin.
The Blue Eagles will begin second-round action against the University of Santo Tomas at 4:00 PM on Saturday, October 5, at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
