Picking up on where it last left off, Ateneo de Manila University started its title defense in the UAAP Season 84 Men’s Basketball Tournament with a 90-81 over University of the Philippines, Saturday evening, at the closed-door SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
Extending its winning streak to 27 matches since 2018, Ateneo enjoyed a hot start to the game when Joshua Lazaro’s basket provided the Blue Eagles with a 20-5 cushion in the 2:28 mark of the first quarter.
While the Fighting Maroons were able to trim the deficit to 35-46 at the half, Tab Baldwin’s men were in cruise control.
“Obviously we’re delighted to get a win in that game,” said Ateneo coach Tab Baldwin. “We really went into it not knowing how well we’ll perform, not knowing how UP would perform. So we’re delighted with the win. The performance obviously needs a lot of improvement.”
Goldwin Monteverde’s players, though came out strong early in the third quarter as CJ Cansino capped off a 6-0 run to bring his squad within touching distance of 41-46 with 8:20 left in the period. However, a 15-2 run closed by veteran forward Raffy Verano doused the Diliman cagers’ momentum as Ateneo led 61-43.
Deep in the fourth quarter, UP had a glimmer of hope when Zav Lucero’s free throws trimmed Ateneo’s lead to just 78-85 with 2:49 to go. Ultimately, though, Ateneo’s composure overcame any difficulties as an SJ Belangel three restored the Blue Eagles’ 10-point cushion to 88-78, which saw them through.
“Overall, I thought (we were) sloppy both ends of the floor, which isn’t a big surprise but the effort was there. The effort’s always gonna be there. This is a tough group of guys. They work very hard in training,” added Baldwin.
Dave Ildefonso led the Katipunan school with 19 points and six rebounds followed by the returning Raffy Verano’s 18 points and five rebounds. Naturalized Filipino Ange Kouame contributed 11 points and 13 rebounds while SJ Belangel produced 10 points, seven rebounds, and five assists.
CJ Cansino led the Fighting Maroons with 21 points followed by Malick Diouf’s 15 points, nine rebounds, and two blocks.
UAAP Season 82 Boys Basketball Finals MVP Carl Tamayo had a stellar debut with 13 points and 10 rebounds but went just 4-of-9 from the charity stripe. Meanwhile, Ricci Rivero had 11 points on 3-of-10 shooting from the field.
The Blue Eagles’ carelessness on the floor saw them concede 29 fouls and 43 free-throw attempts for the Fighting Maroons. They also committed 15 turnovers and let UP have 20 second-chance points.
“We put them in the free-throw line 43 times. Can’t be anything very intelligent about that. We just kept making silly fouls so our discipline obviously needs a lot of work. Offensively, I thought we became more stagnant when we needed to have more movement,” said Baldwin. “We shot the ball too early in possessions when we didn’t have any good shots. A lot to work on but it’s pretty much what we expect. We’re just happy to get the win.”
Both schools shall resume their respective campaigns on Tuesday at the SM MOA Arena. Ateneo (0-0) takes on Far Eastern University at 1:00 PM while UP (0-0) goes up against University of Santo Tomas at 7:00 PM.
The Scores:
Ateneo 90 – Ildefonso 19, Verano 18, Kouame 11, Belangel 10, Mamuyac 9, Mendoza 6, Tio 5, Chiu 4, Daves 4, Koon 2, Lazaro 2, Andrade 0, Gomez 0, Mallilin 0.
UP 81 – Cansino 21, Diouf 15, Tamayo 13, Rivero 11, Fortea 5, Spencer 4, Cagulangan 4, Lucero 2, Catapusan 2, Abadiano 2, Webb 2, Alarcon 0.
Quarterscores: 26-18, 46-35, 71-54, 90-81.
—
All UAAP games stream live on GigaPlay presented by Yamaha. Download it now on Android or IOS.
