IN A tale of two halves, the Ateneo Blue Eagles dropped their second straight University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 87 match against the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Growling Tigers, 64-74. The elimination round game was held earlier this evening at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.
With this loss, Ateneo goes down 0-2 to start the season. Additionally, the Blue and White suffered its first UAAP loss to UST since 2015, as the Growling Tigers last defeated the Blue Eagles in Season 78.
Continuing his stellar performance from the last game, Joshua Lazaro led the Blue Eagles with a double-double of 18 points and 10 rebounds. Shawn Tuano’s hustle and aggressiveness remained a positive outlook for the team, producing 13 points and two steals.
Meanwhile, Angelo Crisostomo and Mo Tounkara spearheaded UST’s victory with 16 points each.
In what turned out to be an early defensive grudge match, both teams started out slow in the first quarter, forcing each other to take contested attempts. The España-based squad would be the first team to solve their shooting woes, securing a 13-8 lead at the five-minute mark behind baskets from Geremy Robinson and Crisostomo.
However, the Blue Eagles started to heat up in the latter half of the quarter. Ateneo’s frontcourt starters Lazaro and Kyle Ong knocked down mid-range jump shots while Kristian Porter surprised with a three-pointer off the bench to break the Growling Tigers’ interior defense wide open. This sequence led to open lane drives from Tuano, propelling Ateneo to a 19-18 lead at the end of the opening quarter.
Picking up where they had left off, both teams upped the ante with Tuano and UST rookie Amiel Acido trading baskets to start the second frame, 21-21. Facing Tounkara’s pressing defense, Lazaro and Porter continued to attack the lane and produce timely baskets that kept the lead with Ateneo throughout the period. Lazaro scored 12 points in the first half to prevent the Growling Tigers from going on any major scoring runs.
While the España-based side remained within striking distance, Ateneo’s stifling defense on UST’s main scorers worked wonders for the Katipunan-based squad. Limiting UST’s starting backcourt to five points in the half, the Blue Eagles entered the halftime break with a 41-37 advantage.
Both teams could not pull away from each other at the start of the second half, but UST managed to slowly grasp control of the game as Tounkara scored six consecutive points to give the Growling Tigers the lead, 43-41.
Throughout the third quarter, an and-one that increased UST’s advantage to 46-41, along with defensive breakdowns from Ateneo caused the tempo-seeking Blue Eagles to struggle getting into an offensive rhythm. Amid the cold spell, Lazaro scored a triple while Tuano converted a UST turnover into a transition layup to tie the game at 46-all.
Continuous back-and-forth lead changes and ties from both teams dominated the period until Tounkara scored four more points to retake the lead for UST midway through the third period, 50-48.
Unwilling to let the game fall into the Growling Tigers’ hand, Ateneo responded with a Sean Quitevis jumper and an Ong layup to tie the game, 52-52. Despite the fightback, the Blue and White conceded another and-one to Crisostomo, who converted the free throw to give UST a three-point cushion at end of the third quarter, 55-52.
The final canto saw both teams continue to fight for control of the game, with Porter drilling a three and converting on a layup to take the lead, 57-55.
Lazaro continued to show his aggression late into the game, converting an and-one in a bid to widen Ateneo’s gap. However, the Growling Tigers unleashed seven-straight points of their own to take the upper hand, 63-60.
Ateneo continued to be plagued by offensive woes and vulnerable interior defense, bearing the brunt of UST’s 7-0 Nic Cabañero and Tounkara-led run that grew into a 10-point gap, 60-70.
With the Blue and White being forced to follow the Growling Tigers’ pace, a series of missed shots and turnovers from Ateneo slowly continued to put away the game for the Growling Tigers, with Cabañero’s lay-ineffectively sealing the match for the Thomasians, 60-72.
By the end of the game, Ateneo only scored four more points, with Quitevis’ free throws and an Ian Espinosa layup only being rendered as consolation buckets. In a shocking fourth-quarter collapse, the Blue Eagles conceded an 18-4 run to the Growling Tigers to drop their second game of the season, 64-74.
The Blue Eagles will look to finally get into the win column as they meet a familiar foe in the De La Salle University Green Archers at their next game on Sunday, September 15, at 6:30 PM at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Box scores:
Ateneo (64): Lazaro – 18, Tuano – 13, Porter – 10, Espinosa – 8, Quitevis – 4, Ong – 4, Bahay – 3, Balogun – 2, Espina – 2, Bongo – 0, Edu – 0, Reyes – 0
UST (74): Tounkara – 16, Crisostomo – 16, Cabañero – 11, Llemit – 10, Padrigao – 6, Paranada – 5, Acido – 3, Lane – 1, Estacio – 0, Manaytay – 0, Pangilinan – 0
Quarter scores:
Ateneo-UST: 19-18, 41-37, 52-55, 64-74
Current Standings (W-L):
- DLSU Green Archers (2-0)
- UST Growling Tigers (2-0)
- UP Fighting Maroons (1-0)
- ADU Soaring Falcons (1-1)
- NU Bulldogs (0-1)
- FEU Tamaraws (0-1)
- UE Red Warriors (0-1)
- ATENEO Blue Eagles (0-2)
