MANILA – Ateneo Blue Eagles maintained its unblemished slate in the UAAP Season 82 men’s basketball. It defeated University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigers, 66-52, on Saturday night at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
Ilonggo Ferdinand “Thirdy” Ravena tallied 17 points and nine rebounds. Negrense Samjosef Belangel chipped in 11 markers, including three triples.
The defending champions Blue Eagles improved to 8-0 slate.
Both teams struggled with their offense early.
The Blue Eagles clung to a 10-8 edge after the first 10 minutes before creating distance in the second period on triples by Ravena and Belangel.
In the second half, the Blue Eagles built double-digit leads several times but the Tigers countered with a rally to come to as close as 54-48 before Ateneo pulled away and took its largest lead at 64-50.
“That was a really tough, really physical game, too physical than the way it should be. They really made your life miserable and in the fourth quarter, they started making their shots,” Blue Eagles head coach Tab Baldwin said.
As the Tigers dropped to 4-4, Negrense guard Mark Nonoy finished with a career-best 18 points on 4-of-7 three-point shooting while Rhenz Abando and Soulemane Chabi Yo were held to seven and six points, respectively.
Meanwhile, University of the East Red
Warriors leaned on Alex Diakhite and Rey Suerte to pull off an 80-74 upset over
Adamson University Falcons.
Diakhite top-scored with 29 points while Suerte
added 26 markers as the Red Warriors improved to 3-5./PN
