MANILA – Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles returned to the finals after an 80-61 victory over Far Eastern University Tamaraws in the UAAP Season 81 men’s basketball semifinal round on Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Ilonggo Ferdinand “Thirdy” Ravena III led the way with 22 points while Season 81 Rookie of the Year awardee Angelo Kouame chipped in double-double 18 markers and 10 rebounds for the Blue Eagles, the defending champions.
Ateneo will be in the championship round for the third straight year but will have a different opponent – either Adamson University Falcons or University of the Philippines Maroons.
The Blue Eagles jumped to an 8-0 start on baskets by Ravena and Kouame. The Tamaraws came to within 6-12 but the Blue Eagles increased the gap to 17-9 after a shot by George Go.
FEU rallied to within 13-17 early in the second period but the Blue Eagles quickly pulled away as inside hits by Kouame and outside shots from Ravena and Joseph Nieto gave them a 38-24 halftime lead.
Things turned awry for the Tamaraws in the third period – Alec Stockton got thrown out of the game for throwing an apparent punch to Ravena’s face.
The Blue Eagles turned the incident into a springboard to pull away further from the Tamaraws, raising the lead to its largest 59-38 on a triple by Ravena.
Barkley Eboña topped the scoring for the fourth-placed Tamaraws with 9 points while Prince Orizu and RJ Ramirez added 7 markers apiece./PN
