Well-oiled Eagles blast Tigers, near UAAP three-peat

MANILA, Philippines – The Ateneo Blue Eagles flexed their championship mettle against the UST Growling Tigers, 91-77, in Game One of the 82nd UAAP men's basketball finals at the Araneta Coliseum on Saturday.

Despite a long break during the stepladder semifinals, the three-peat-seeking Eagles didn't show any rust in a clinical beatdown of the Tigers.

A season-high 32 points from Thirdy Ravena propelled the Blue Eagles to only win one away from another title.

It was all Ateneo from the get-go, with Ravena and Angelo Kouame conniving on offense.

By the middle of the first canto, Ateneo held a 16 point advantage, 18-2.

Despite the Tigers finally making shots, the Eagles were still in charge, 32-17.

The España-based squad seemed to wake up in the second salvo, with rookie of the year Mark Nonoy leading a comeback charge.

UST cut the lead to as littele as three, 38-41. But a SJ Belangel-led flurry from the Ateneo side erased Nonoy's efforts.

At the half, the Eagles were back with a double digit lead, 54-39. After that, the Tigers just couldn't close the gap with Nonoy and Brent Paraiso's 3-point shooting.

Apart from the offense of Tab Baldwin's Eagles, defense also proved to be key as Cj Cansino and Rhenz Abando were held to single digits.

Ateneo will try to close out and take the title on Wednesday at the Mall of Asia Arena.