Blue Eagles buck Bulldogs tough stand, stay unbeaten

MANILA, Philippines — The Blue Eagles endured a bumpy flight to their ninth straight win.

Ateneo held off a scrappy National U three-fourth of the way and leaned on a decisive surge in the last six minutes to pull off an 85-72 victory and stay unscathed in the UAAP Season 80 men’s basketball tournament at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay yesterday.

Thirdy Ravena and Tyler Tio ignited Ateneo’s breakaway while the rest of the Blue Eagles limited the Bulldogs to a solitary point four minutes into the fourth on their way to one of their toughest wins.

The Blue Eagles ran into a tough stand from the Bulldogs and found themselves trailing by three at the end of the first half, 45-48.

But the Eagles, starring Gian Mamuyac and Tio, eventually seized the initiative to lead by two at the end of third period.

Then Ravena took charge with four points in a 9-1 offensive thrust by Ateneo in the last six minutes of the match and the Blue Eagles moved unassailably ahead, 76-66.

“At halftime, coach Tab emphasized on our defense. We weren’t happy with our defense. We were outrebounded. That was a big point of emphasis in the half and we came out and played better defense in the second half especially in the fourth quarter. It’s a good thing we ended up out-rebounding them at the end of the game,” said Ateneo assistant coach Sandy Arespacochaga.

The Bulldogs came out in full throttle in the first quarter to overhaul an 16-26 deficit and held their own against the highly fancied Blue Eagles before absorbing their sixth loss in nine matches.

Ravena came through with a near double-double of 15 points and eight rebounds with two assists, two steals and two blocks to boot while Matt Nieto and Jolo Mendoza added 10 markers apiece for ADMU.

J-jay Alejandro logged a game-high 22 points he complemented with seven rebounds, five assists and three steals, Antonio Joson scored 11 points while Issa Gaye hauled down 14 boards on top of his eight-point output for NU.

Earlier, Adamson got back on track as it disposed of University of the East, 66-57, to remain at third with its sixth win in nine outings.

Jerrick Ahanmisi, Papi Sarr and Sean Manganti combined for 36 points as the Falcons negated Alvin Pasaol’s game-high 22-point effort for the Red Warriors to atone for a setback over pacesetting Blue Eagles the last time out.

AdU also halted UE’s two-game win streak and dropped them to a 2-7 slate for seventh.