THE ATENEO Men’s 3×3 Basketball Team secured a 1-1 result on day one of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 87 Men’s 3×3 Basketball tournament.
Being pitted against tough adversaries in their Season 87 debut, the Blue Eagles first fell to the Far Eastern University (FEU) Tamaraws before stunning the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Growling Tigers. The opening day of festivities was held earlier today at Ayala Malls Manila Bay in Parañaque City.
Match versus FEU
The Blue Eagles began their Men’s 3×3 stint with a tough 17-21 loss against the FEU Tamaraws. After a quick early and-one from Sam Reyes that placed the Blue and White up 2-0, both squads fired things up from long distance, with Andre Tan leading the charge for Ateneo and Veejay Pre fronting FEU’s perimeter game.
Following an 8-8 deadlock, both teams dug deep into their bag of tricks, but it was the Tamaraws that came up in the clutch. After Blue Eagle Achilles Joachim De Guzman fouled FEU’s Janrey Pasaol, the latter ultimately sealed the deal at the charity stripe, ending the game at the expense of Ateneo, 17-21.
Match versus UST
Looking to come away with their first win of the tournament, Ateneo then took on early postseason favorites UST Growling Tigers.
After coming up short against FEU, the Blue Eagles came out cold to start their second game, as UST’s Zain Mahmood imposed his size early to give the Growling Tigers a 6-1 advantage. Aiming to quickly respond, the Katipunan-based unit turned to their outside shooting to bring them back into contention, with both Reyes and De Guzman knocking down perimeter shots, 6-8.
After consecutive stops against the UST offense, the Blue Eagles continued to pounce on the lackluster UST closeouts, as Danniel Tupas scorched the nets with back-to-back buckets to give Ateneo the lead, 12-9. Tupas then exerted the same effort on the defensive end, denying Mahmood at the cup to help seize even more momentum for the Blue and White, 16-11.
Refusing to let Ateneo’s run go unanswered, UST’s Ice Danting took over for the Growling Tigers, injecting a personal 4-0 run to cut the Ateneo lead, 16-15. Unfazed by the Growling Tigers’ run, Tan manufactured a tough contested midrange jumper to pad the Ateneo cushion, 18-15.
With time dwindling down, Tan was once again called upon to deliver, draining a clutch top-of-the-key two pointer, 20-16, to virtually seal a win. As final hail-mary three from Danding went awry, the Blue Eagles ultimately sealed their first 3×3 Men’s win in two seasons with a final score of 20-18.
The Blue Eagles look to carry this momentum as they take on the Adamson University Soaring Falcons tomorrow, April 29, at 4:00 PM in the same venue.
Box Scores:
Match versus FEU
Ateneo (17): Tan – 8, Reyes – 5, De Guzman – 4
FEU (21): Pre – 9, Pasaol – 9, Daa – 3
Match versus UST
Ateneo (20): Tupas – 7, De Guzman – 6, Tan – 5, Reyes – 2
UST (18): Daunting – 6, Crisostomo – 5, Mahmood – 4, Acido – 3
Current Standings (W-L):
- NU Bulldogs (2-0)
- AdU Soaring Falcons (2-0)
- FEU Tamaraws (1-1)
- UE Red Warriors (1-1)
- ATENEO Blue Eagles (1-1)
- UST Growling Tigers (1-1)
- DLSU Green Archers (0-2)
- UP Fighting Maroons (0-2)
