Ateneo de Manila University is now in the driver’s seat in the UAAP Season 86 Men’s Basketball Final Four race after they held on to a 62-58 win over Adamson University.
Ateneo was barely hanging by a thread with 1:23 left on the game clock as Adamson’s Matthew Montebon converted a three-point shot to bring his team within 59-58.
However, the Blue Eagles tightened up on defense. They forced Matt Erolon to commit a turnover with 46 seconds left and then Nigerian center Joseph Obasa executed a strong block against Cedrick Manzano to protect his team’s slender lead.
Manzano and Didat Hanapi then missed in the Soaring Falcons’ next possessions and then Sean Quitevis and Obasa, who seized the rebound after Quitevis’ missed his second free throw, converted their charities to give the Blue Eagles the win.
It was tough but Ateneo delivered when it mattered and came home with the win.
“To us, it was important to stick to our defensive principles in this game,” said Quitevis, the 6-foot graduating guard from Cebu who led the Blue Eagles with 12 points, eight rebounds, one assists, and one block.
“We’re looking at these stats but I’m more interested in looking at our heart stats. That’s really a true test of how well we performed as a team. I think that’s more important than this right now.”
Ateneo entered this game remembering Adamson’s 74-71 win over it courtesy of Vince Magbuhos’ buzzer-beater last October 7. The Blue Eagles knew that it was going to be another tough battle against the Soaring Falcons.
Obasa, who is playing as a one-and-done student-athlete, came out with a strong performance with 10 points, eight rebounds, and four blocks. He showed once again why coach Tab Baldwin values him highly as he was a strong defensive anchor for his team, especially in the end.
“I think it comes down to preparation,” he said.
“As a team, we tried to really lock in our defensive principles. We’ve really been working on it these past few weeks. We gotta be better definitely, especially like coach (Tab) said, in the second half. From a team perspective, we wanna maintain that type of quality.”
Ateneo’s dramatic win over Adamson today will all go to waste unless it wins against University of the East this Wednesday and archrival De La Salle University this Saturday. One slip-up from the Blue Eagles will open the door for the Soaring Falcons, who are still in the race mathematically.
This may be the team’s toughest campaign under Baldwin but it has shown that it can win during the big occasions and there is nothing bigger than fighting for one’s survival.
“I just reinforced to the team that we’re not waiting for the Final Four. This is our playoffs,” said Quitevis.
“Every game is just as big. We treat it that way.”
“Just like what Sean said, we gotta earn the right to play another game. That’s how it’s gonna be until the end,” said Obasa. “We gotta do what needs to be done and trust each other.”
