The Ateneo de Manila University continued their dominant run in the UAAP Season 80 Men’s Basketball Tournament after staving off the Far Eastern University Tamaraws, 94-82, Sunday night at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.
Thirdy Ravena led the Blue Eagles with 18 points, 11 rebounds, and five assists, while Anton Asistio added 16 points, spiked by three triples.
But after limiting their first two opponents to just 68.0 points per contest, the Blue Eagles gave up their season-high in this game, and according to Ateneo coach Sandy Arespacochaga, they had to rely on their offense to stave off the Tamaraws.
“That’s a bit of a high scoring game but maybe not comapred to yesterday, to the La Salle game. It’s a high scoring game and we shot well from the field, even from the three-point line,” said Arespacochaga. “But we also gave a lot of points to FEU. They shot the ball well also, they scored 82 points and they got to the line a lot of times, more than what we would’ve wanted.
“But we’re happy to come off with a win, especially since this is our third game in eight days,” pointed out the Ateneo lifer.
Gladly trading shots with FEU, Ateneo had 34 attempts from distance, knocking down 12 to jack up their scoring in the game. Moreover, the Blue Eagles distributed the ball well, assisting on 19 of their 35 makes that led to a 50 percent shooting from the field.
“Our field goal percentage helped us thorughout the whole game, Anton hit his shots early, and all the others contributed so props to my teammates,” added Ravena.
Ateneo were able to sustain their strong start, was paced by the 19 combined first quarter points for Ravena and Asistio, and led by as many as 18 points in the game, 78-60 with 8:03 left in the contest.
Behind former Blue Eagle Arvin Tolentino, who scored all 11 of his points in the final frame, FEU were able to cut the lead to as low as nine points, 87-78, with 3:38 to go. However, timely baskets by Matt Nieto and Ravena down the stretch halted any momentum FEU were trying to gain, as the Blue Eagles take solo first with a 3-0 slate while the Tamaraws dropped to 1-2.
Nieto added 11 markers for Ateneo.
Third-year guard Wendell Comboy scored a team-high 12 points for FEU, while Orizu and Tuffin finished with 11 and 10 markers respectively.
Ateneo look to make it four in a row win when they face the listless University of the East Red Warriors on Sunday, September 24, at 2:00pm. FEU, on the other hand, hope to bounce back against the University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigers on Saturday, September 23, at 2:00pm. Both games will be played at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
The Scores:
ADMU 94 – Ravena 18, Asistio 16, Nieto Ma 11, Tolentino 10, Go 9, Verano 7, Ikeh 6, Black 5, Nieto Mi 5, Porter 5, Mamuyac 2, Tio 0, Mallillin 0.
FEU 82 – Comboy 12, Orizu 11, Tolentino 11, Tuffin 10, Dennison 8, Ramirez 7, Trinidad 7, Parker 5, Ebona 5, Cani 4, Escoto 2, Nunag 0.
Quarterscores: 34-22, 55-45, 72-58, 94-82
