THE ATENEO Blue Eagles suffer their fifth straight loss at the claws of the Adamson Soaring Falcons after a 60-61 bout earlier this afternoon at the Filoil EcoOil Centre in the City of San Juan. Despite leading by as much as 27 in the third quarter, Ateneo fell victim to a buzzer-beating triple from Matthew Montebon in the final seconds that sealed a comeback for Adamson.
Kai Ballungay led the way for Ateneo with 13 points and three triples, while guards Lebron Nieto and Ian Espinosa both chipped in with nine points of their own.
Ateneo made their living on the defensive end for most of the first half, holding Adamson to only six points in the first quarter. With new recruit Andrew Bongo taking the place of Jason Credo in the starting lineup, Ateneo’s size overwhelmed the Falcons. Bongo also contributed on the offensive end, scoring the team’s first four points as they finished with a 13-6 lead to end the first quarter.
The Blue Eagles’ defense only tightened up in the second frame, which allowed them to build up their double-digit lead. Adamson shot a measly 21% from the field for the first half, converting none of their nine attempts from three-point range. The Falcons also turned over the ball 11 times, eight of which were steals for Ateneo that turned into easy buckets in transition. The Ateneo lead stood at 36-16 by the end of the first half.
While defense was the story of the first half, both teams caught fire from three-point territory in the third quarter—scoring nine triples combined for both teams. The Falcons managed to find their groove offensively coming out of the break: dropping more points in the third quarter (19) than they did in the entire first half (16). However, Adamson could not contain Ateneo on the other side of the court as the Blue Eagles still held a 52-35 advantage going into the final quarter.
The Blue Eagles crumbled in the fourth quarter as Adamson switched to a hyper-aggressive 2-3 zone that Coach Tab Baldwin’s squad had failed to solve. Ateneo only managed to score eight points in the entirety of the canto as the Falcons mounted a comeback. Adamson’s 20-3 run late in the game ended with a pull-up triple from Montebon that hit nothing but net, ending the game at 61-60 in favor of the Falcons.
With the loss, Ateneo falls to a 0-5 win-loss record in the tournament, eliminating them from contention for the 2023 Filoil EcoOil Preseason Cup quarterfinals. The Blue and White will have little room for rest as they seek their first win against St. Clare College of Caloocan Saints tomorrow, 4:00 PM at the same venue.
