The 11 day break might have worked wonders for the Blue Eagles.
The Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles bucked a slow start, turning it up the rest of the way to take a 75-62 win over the University of the East Red Warriors, Wednesday afternoon at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan City.
The win arrested Ateneo’s two-game losing skid while snapping UE’s two-game winning run.
UE surged in the opening moments of the game behind the hot-shooting of RR de Leon and Philip Manalang. Lagging behind by as much as 14 points, 23-9 late in the first frame, the Blue Eagles badly needed a spark.
“Whenever we play UE, it’s always a tough game. UE got to a big lead and they hit their shots and we’re not getting our’s,” Ateneo assistant coach Sandy Arespacochaga said. “But the good thing is a couple of our bench guys helped us in offense and defense.”
The boost needed by the cagers from Loyola Heights came from rookie sparkplug Jolo Mendoza. Mendoza scored all 15 of his points in the first half, including back-to-back triples to help give Ateneo a 42-35 lead entering the break.
“Coming from two straight losses, we needed this game,” the former UAAP Juniors Finals MVP said. “It’s really a good confidence booster going to our game against NU.”
Whatever momentum UE had to start the game went missing in the second half as the Blue Eagles outworked them while their inability to defend without fouling compounded their woes.
Ateneo then went on a 14-5 rally that bridged the closing moments of the third canto to the latter part of the final frame. Big man Isaac Go sparked the rally while the returning Aeron Black provided an added boost to the Ateneo machine to start the final quarter. A triple by Adrian Wong from team captain Vince Tolentino gave Ateneo its biggest lead of the game 69-51 with 4:14 left.
Ravena made a living in the charity stripe as he scored 11 of his 14 markers from the foul stripe. Wong added 11 points on a perfect 4-of-4 shooting clip.
With a logjam at the third to fifth spot, the Blue Eagles can’t afford to relax according to Arespacochaga.
“We can’t afford to relax and think our next game is an easy game,” he said. “Good win for us but we want to focus on our next game.”
Ateneo was able to knock down eight triples in the game, far from their two conversions in their last game against UP. Moreover, they were able to outrebound UE, 48 to 40, that led to an 11-2 second chance points advantage.
Manalang led UE with 15 points while De Leon added 13 points.
The Ateneo Blue Eagles (5-4) look to continue the run they’re on, facing the NU Bulldogs (4-5) on Sunday, October 23 at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum. The UE Red Warriors (2-7) have the Adamson Soaring Falcons (4-5) next on their slate on Saturday, October 22 at the same venue.
The Scores:
ADMU (75) – Mendoza 15, Ravena 14, Wong 11, Nieto Mi 10, Go 8, Asistio 4, Tolentino 4, Black 4, Verano 4, Ikeh 1, Babilonia 0, Nieto Ma 0, Porter 0.
UE (61) – Manalang 16, De Leon 13, Varilla 7, Pasaol 7, Batiller 5, Olayon 4, Bartolome 4, Palma 3, Derige 2, Penuela 0, Gagate 0, Charcos 0, Abanto 0, Larupay 0.
Quarterscores: 16-23, 42-37, 60-48, 75-61.
