Ateneo De Manila University continued its perfect season after imposing its will over University of Santo Tomas with a dominant 101-51 win in the UAAP Season 84 Men’s Basketball Tournament, Thursday morning, at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
The Blue Eagles came out of the gates with a hot start and ended the first quarter with a 22-8 lead. Tab Baldwin’s squad then used a 22-0 run midway through the game to further stretch the margin against the Growling Tigers.
Ateneo led by as much as 53 points after a Forthsky Padrigao layup gave the Blue Eagles a 101-48 advantage with 42 seconds left in the final frame. The defending champions never took their foot off the pedal en route to a wire-to-wire victory.
“I think the difference in the scoreline is a reflection that our coaching staff asked for 40 minutes of performance from our players, and that’s something that’s plagued us this year. We haven’t really given up a 40-minute performance, so today we came pretty close,” said Ateneo head coach Tab Baldwin.
Ateneo’s 50-point margin in this game is the biggest since the computerization of stats in the UAAP in 2003.
Raffy Verano headlined the Blue Eagles with 18 points and seven rebounds while SJ Belangel produced 16 points built on five three-pointers. Geo Chiu followed with 14 points and eight rebounds of his own.
The Blue Eagles maximized their depth to dominate this game as they put up 61 starters points and 40 bench points as compared to the Growling Tigers’ 40 and 11.
Meanwhile, Nic Cabañero led UST with 18 points and four rebounds in a losing effort.
Christian Manaytay and Joshua Fontanilla added nine and eight points, respectively. Fontanilla though shot just 4-of-11 from the field while committing six turnovers.
Also held down to just single digits was Sherwin Concepcion, finishing with just five points while missing all of eight of his attempts from deep.
With their 36th straight win, the Blue Eagles have now booked a Final Four ticket in Season 84 — their seventh straight appearance. The last time Ateneo missed the Final Four was back in Season 76.
Both schools shall next play on Saturday at the SM MOA Arena. University of Santo Tomas (3-7) takes on Adamson (3-6) at 10:00 AM. On the other hand, Ateneo (10-0) faces off against National University (4-5) afterwards at 12:30 PM.
The Scores:
Ateneo 101 – Verano 18, Belangel 16, Chiu 14, Lazaro 12, Ildefonso 11, Kouame 10, Koon 9, Andrade 6, Padrigao 5, Mamuyac 0, Tio 0, Gomez 0, Daves 0.
UST 51 – Cabañero 18, Manaytay 9, Fontanilla 8, Manalang 7, Concepcion 5, Yongco 2, Santos 2, Ando 0, Herrera 0, Gomez De Liaño 0, Garing 0, Mantua 0, Pangilinan 0.
Quarterscores: 22-8, 46-21, 80-36, 101-51.
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