THE CROSS-AVENUE rivals gave fans another thriller in a potential Finals preview as the Ateneo Blue Eagles (10-3) handed the University of the Philippines (UP) Fighting Maroons (11-3) their third loss in Season 85, 75-67. The intense match was held earlier today, November 26 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.
With the victory, Ateneo now evens their loss count with the Fighting Maroons, giving the Blue Eagles an opportunity to snatch the top seed in the league. This can be made possible if Ateneo wins their last match against the Adamson University (AdU) Soaring Falcons on Thursday, December 1.
Head Coach Tab Baldwin’s squad also retained the second spot in the standings following the loss of the National University (NU) Bulldogs (9-5) against the streaking Soaring Falcons (7-6) earlier today.
Blue Eagles Dave Ildefonso and Ange Kouame delivered under the capacity crowd of 14,000 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, dropping a combined 29 points and 24 boards en route to the win.
Kouame continued his rampage from the past few games with even more aggressive play to kick off the first quarter. He scored the first five points for Ateneo and got to the rim with vigor, putting opposing UP center Malick Diouf in early foul trouble. Fouls continued to plague UP as Ateneo earned freebies from their early penalty. With the starters on the bench, Ateneo earned a needed boost from Chris Koon, who scored five markers to help bring a 23-18 advantage to the side of Ateneo.
In the second quarter, the Ateneo lead grew to as much as eight, 31-23, courtesy of the continued efforts by Koon and Kouame. However, the Blue Eagles hit a cold stretch on the back of suffocating defense on UP’s end. With the Blue Eagles struggling to find the bottom of the net, the Fighting Maroons mustered up their own scoring barrage with triples from JD Cagulangan and James Spencer. UP managed to take the lead from Ateneo with a transition dunk from Diouf, and the Blue Eagles ended the quarter facing a two-point deficit after giving up a 14-4 run to UP, 35-37.
Coming out of halftime, the Blue Eagles had a heavy emphasis on getting Ildefonso going. The starting forward failed to get on the scoreboard for the entirety of the first half but found himself producing 12 points in the third quarter alone. UP’s gritty play continued to be a double-edged sword as their tight defense also yielded plenty of fouls for Ateneo’s benefit, with two technical fouls being whistled against Harold Alarcon and Henry Galinato. Ateneo then converted on the trips to the free-throw line and ended the third frame up by four, 53-49.
Ateneo’s momentum carried over to the fourth and final quarter, thanks in part to huge performances from BJ Andrade and Gab Gomez. Team Captain Andrade knocked down two triples to spark an Ateneo run, which ended with a Gomez three-pointer bomb to increase their lead to 13, 73-60.
Gomez then closed the final quarter as the team’s point guard, and his steady play helped the Blue Eagles fend off any of the Fighting Maroons’ comeback efforts. Free throws from Kai Ballungay iced the game as Ateneo took down their Katipunan rivals, 75-67.
With the Blue Eagles in a five-game win streak, they look to close out the eliminations on top as they face Final Four hopefuls, the Adamson Soaring Falcons. The game will be held on Wednesday, November 30, at 4:00 PM at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Box Scores:
Ateneo (75): Ildefonso – 15, Kouame – 14, Padrigao – 13, Andrade – 8, Koon – 8, Daves – 6, Gomez – 5, Ballungay – 4, Lazaro – 3, Chiu – 0, Garcia – 0
UP (67): Tamayo – 20, Alarcon – 10, Cagulangan – 9, Fortea – 9, Diouf – 7, Galinato – 7, Spencer – 5, Lucero – 0, Abadiano – 0, Gonzales – 0
Quarter Scores:
Ateneo-UP: 23-18,35-37,53-49,75-67
