IN THEIR final 2023 Filoil EcoOil preseason game, the Ateneo Blue Eagles held off a feisty Saint Clare Saints unit, 57-52. Today’s win meant the Blue Eagles clinched their fourth consecutive win to end the tournament earlier this afternoon at the Filoil EcoOil Centre in the City of San Juan.
After opening the Filoil preseason tourney with a rough five-game slide, Ateneo slowly returned to cohesive form to register a 4-5 record, finishing as Bracket B’s sixth-seeded team.
Blue Eagles Team captain Sean Quitevis produced 13 points, seven rebounds, and three steals to lead his team to victory.
Ateneo kickstarted its final Filoil EcoOil matchup as beneficiaries of St. Clare’s careless turnovers and low-quality shot attempts, taking a 5-0 lead at the 7:56 mark of the first quarter. The Blue Eagles found more momentum after Ahron Estacio’s second foul on Gab Gomez’s three-point attempt, generating an 8-3 lead, while the Saints’ lead guard faced foul trouble with seven minutes remaining. Courtesy of its picturesque ball movement consisting of effective off-ball screens and smart reads by the ball handlers, the Blue and White posted a 20-10 advantage to end the opening quarter.
While Ateneo may have committed a string of uncharacteristic turnovers at the beginning of the second quarter, long-range shots from Lebron Nieto and Geo Chiu extended the lead, 26-13. Despite a 7-0 Saints run trimming the margin to six, Sean Quitevis and Ballungay retaliated with consecutive makes to balloon the Katipunan-based squad’s cushion back to double digits with three minutes remaining in the second. Both teams then struggled to find the bottom of the net in the remaining moments of the half, as Ateneo headed to intermission with a 31-23 lead.
Coming out of halftime, the Blue Eagles faced heavier resistance from Saint Clare’s defense—being held scoreless in the quarter until Jason Credo’s turnaround fadeaway made it a 33-25 game. Despite forcing Gomez and Forthsky Padrigao to more giveaways in the quarter, the Saints were unsuccessful in cashing in their open looks. With the grind-it-out frame seeing unglamorous offensive sequences displayed by both squads, the Tab Baldwin-headed unit weathered the storm en route to a 43-33 lead heading into the fourth canto.
In the final 10 minutes, Estacio looked to lift the Saints to an upset win over the juggernaut Blue Eagles—shaving their deficit to 39-45. Despite being in foul trouble, Estacio remained assertive in finding his shot which helped the Saints make it a one-possession bout, 48-45, with 3:19 remaining. In the following sequence, the Blue Eagles failed to convert on three consecutive shot attempts until Joseph Obasa’s thrilling and-one putback gave Ateneo a thin five-point lead.
Shortly after Obasa’s missed free throw, the Saints knocked down a huge corner triple to make it a two-point game with 2:25 to play. Quitevis responded by drilling a clutch three-pointer in transition off a blown open layup by the Saints, padding the lead to 53-48 with less than two minutes left. With 14 ticks left, Gomez sunk two pressure-packed free throws to make it a two-possession lead for Ateneo; with Quitevis proceeding interception by denying the Saints’ comeback bid, 57-52.
The Blue and White will continue preparing for the 86th Season of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) in the ongoing PinoyLiga Collegiate Cup. The incumbent UAAP champions are also set to participate in Japan’s World University Basketball Series (WUBS) this August to defend its WUBS title against international collegiate squads.
Box scores:
Ateneo (57): Quitevis – 13, Ballungay – 9, Lazaro – 8, Obasa – 7, Credo – 4, Gomez – 4, Padrigao – 4, Nieto – 3, Chiu – 3, Tuano – 2
St. Clare (52): Estacio – 12, Galang – 9, Estrada – 9, Angeles – 7, Tapenio – 6, Ndong – 4, Sual – 3, Kane – 2
Quarter scores:
Ateneo-St. Clare: 20-10, 31-23, 43-33, 57-52
