Thirdy Ravena led the Ateneo Blue Eagles in a game-breaking 13-2 rally in the final frame that was enough to give the Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles a 66-53 win over old rivals Colegio de San Juan de Letran Knights Thursday evening at the FilOil Flying V Centre in San Juan City.
Ravena led the Blue Eagles with ten points with two triples. Debuting Blue Eagle CJ Perez added eight points and eight boards in just 12 minutes of action while Aaron Black added seven markers and six boards in the win.
“Good win for us. There were a couple of things that we wanted to see from our team and our players that we were able to achieve,” long-time Ateneo assistant coach Sandy Arespacochaga said. “It’s still a long process though and we’ll take it one step at a time.”
The Blue Eagles held a 37-27 halftime lead against the Knights with CJ Perez leading the way with six points and five boards. Ravena added five points while three other Blue Eagles scored four points.
After being limited to just nine first quarter points, the Knights tandem of Rey Nambatac and Bong Quinto scored 11 and ten apiece to pace the Knights. In addition, the game had a delay as the lights in the Arena went out with 40.7 seconds left in the opening quarter.
Nambatac continued to carry the Knights in the third frame in scoring six points in a 10-0 rally to close out the quarter to cut the Ateneo lead to just five, 46-41. However, the Blue Eagles, behind five points by Ravena – including a triple, broke the game wide-open that gave Ateneo a 59-43 lead with 6:53 remaining.
The frontline of G-Boy Babilonia, Isaac Go, and Kris Porter were able to make the big buckets in the end to give Ateneo its second win of the tournament.
“We need to pick it up every game since we are building up for the UAAP,” Arespacochaga said.
Moreover, the assistant coach praised Perez’s game in saying, “[He] Played very well. He had a long lay-off so he only knew half of what we were doing at best. We are happy with what we saw and he’s really a very good basketball player.”
The Blue Eagles (B, 2-1) will play their second game in four days tomorrow, May 27 against the Lyceum Pirates at 5:00pm. The Letran Knights (2-3), on the other hand, face rivals San Beda (B, 3-1) on Sunday, May 29 at 2:00pm.
The Scores:
ADMU (66) – Ravena 10, Perez 8, Black 7, Porter 6, Nieto Ma. 6, Go 6, Tolentino 4, Babilonia 4, Ikeh 4, Wong 3, Asistio 3, Cani 2, Apacible 2, Nieto Mi. 1, Tio 0, Allmond 0, Banzon 0, Mendoza 0.
CSJL (53) – Nambatac 22, Quinto 14, Calvo 4, Balanza 4, Sollano 3, Apreku 2, Vacaro 2, Sario 2, Luib 0, Balagasay 0, Dela Pena 0, Ambohot 0.
Quarterscores: 20-9, 37-37, 46-41, 66-53.
Photo courtesy of Peter Baltazar (Sports on Air)
