MANILA – Cignal-Ateneo Blue Eagles imposed its dominance from start to finish to score a 106-31 victory over McDavid in the 2019 PBA D-League Tuesday at JCSGO Gym in Cubao, Quezon City.
The manhandling of the UAAP men’s basketball champions was so huge that it came just a point short of dashing the league’s record biggest winning margin of 76 points when Tanduay Rhum Masters defeated Zark’s Burger, 141-65, in 2017.
The 31 points total of McDavid, meanwhile, reset the league’s record for the least points scored by a team in the league since PC Gilmore suffered a 41-71 defeat to Boracay Rum in 2012.
Ilonggo Ferdinand “Thirdy” Ravena III and Ivorian import Angelo Kouame tallied 16 points each, while Mike Nieto chipped in 11 markers for the Blue Eagles, which stayed at the top of the Aspirants Group standings at 6-1.
But more than their numbers, it was the Blue Eagles’ defense which did the trick as they held McDavid to a forgettable 21-percent field goal shooting to force the lowest scoring output in PBA D-League history.
Blue Eagles head coach Tab Baldwin did not waste the opportunity to explore other nuances which the team can use later on in the tournament and in their title defense in UAAP.
“As you go through a year, an offseason, a preseason campaign, your system should grow,” he said. “Today, we did use a couple of different things that we may or may not use but we teach our players some things that they can have in their arsenal.”
Marlon Monte top-scored with 11 points for the 1-5 McDavid, which played without its head coach Allen Ricardo as he is in the States for a summer league camp for his youth team./PN
