THE ATENEO Blue Eagles kickstarted their championship quest in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 85 Men’s Basketball Tournament with a hard-fought 79-70 win over the Far Eastern University (FEU) Tamaraws. The Blue Eagles’ season opener was held earlier today at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
Rising star and sophomore Forthsky Padrigao fueled the new-look Blue Eagles with his 19 points and seven assists. Veterans Dave Ildefonso and Ange Kouame also starred with double-digit stats, tallying 14 points and 12 rebounds, and 12 points and 14 rebounds, respectively.
Ateneo began their season by showing off their well-orchestrated offense, dropping 18 points midway through the first frame thanks to some hot shooting in the wings. Bryan Sajonia responded accordingly for the Tamaraws by hitting big baskets to cut down Ateneo’s margin. However, the Blue Eagles still enjoyed a comfortable lead by the time the first quarter concluded, 24-16.
FEU Head Coach Olsen Racela’s squad went hot to start the second canto, scoring 11 unanswered points to give them their first lead of the game, 25-24. After the much-needed timeout by Ateneo Head Coach Tab Baldwin, starting guard Chris Koon then halted an eventual 14-0 Tamaraw run with his back-to-back midrange jumpers. Despite Koon’s productive scoring, Ateneo was still unable to interrupt FEU’s mastery of the quarter— as the Tamaraws secured a 36-30 advantage at halftime.
The game of back-and-forth runs between the two teams continued in the third quarter, until FEU reignited their offense to recover the match advantage, 41-39. After a long period of exchanging baskets, the Ateneo veterans took over as Ildefonso, Kouame, and Padrigao did most of the damage to give their team a five-point lead heading into the final quarter, 55-50.
Padrigao’s big night continued in the fourth quarter, with a huge three-pointer and an and-one play to extend the Blue Eagles’ lead to 11, 66-55, in the game’s last six minutes. Team Captain BJ Andrade joined the party as well by scoring big-time baskets to extend the double-digit cushion for the Blue and White. The Katipunan-based group eventually took control of the match and sealed their season opener, 79-70.
Coach Tab Baldwin lauded Padrigao on his big night saying, “If [there was] anybody in the country who says they know basketball [but] didn’t know Forthsky Padrigao before this game, then they don’t know basketball.”
The Blue Eagles (1-0) will hunt for their second victory in a match against the National University (NU) Bulldogs (1-0) on Wednesday, October 5 at 6:30 PM at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig City.
Box Scores:
Ateneo (79): Padrigao – 19, Andrade – 15, Ildefonso – 14, Kouame – 12, Koon – 11, Ballungay – 3, Chiu – 2, Daves – 2, Lazaro – 1
FEU (70): Gonzales – 19, Sleat – 17, Sajonia – 10, Anonuevo 9, Torres – 5, Alforque – 3, Tchuente – 3, Sandagon – 2, Tempra – 2
Quarter Scores:
Ateneo-FEU: 24-16, 30-36, 55-50, 79-70
