Ateneo knocks out UC in PCCL

CEBU, Philippines - The Ateneo Blue Eagles turned a close third period into a one-sided affair as they made mincemeat of the visiting University of Cebu (UC) Webmasters, 74-54, to advance into the Philippine Collegiate Champions League (PCCL) Finals for the second straight year in yesterday's Final Four match-up played at The Arena in San Juan.

A victory by the Eagles led to the possibility of another storied rivalry against the La Salle Green Archers, who were still slugging it out with the Adamson University Falcons as of this writing yesterday.

Before wilting under heavy Ateneo pressure, the Webmasters led by 6-foot-9 Junemar Fajardo took an early 5-2 lead and even forged a 16-all deadlock.

They were even down by just seven points at the end of the third period, 43-40, only to be outscored heavily by the Blue Eagles in the final 10 minutes where Ateneo handcuffed the reigning CESAFI champion to a paltry 11 points while hitting 24 markers resulting into a 20-point demolition.

Fajardo, watched keenly by his prospected PBA coach Tim Cone of the Alaska Aces, finished with 30 points and a monster 16 rebounds but his numbers didn't show much the fact he was actually struggling with his offense and sadly too, there was no sufficient scoring support from his other teammates unlike the way they disposed all their CESAFI rivals here last October.

The Webmasters also showed having problems with their transition defense and played too soft in fighting for screens as well.

Diminutive guard Emman Monfort, who was knocking in big shots for the Blue Eagles, was named as the best player of the game with 15 points on top of seven rebounds and seven assists.

Since 2003, only the University of the Visayas (UV) Green Lancers were able to advance into the PCCL Finals, but lost to the University of the East (UE) Red Warriors.

Meanwhile, San Beda's loss to La Salle the other day, 74-84, led to the trivia that no NCAA team yet has made it into the PCCL Finals since the league's inception seven years ago. (THE FREEMAN)