Eagles ride on furious 3rd quarter to repeat over Archers
MANILA, Philippines — The Ateneo Blue Eagles stay unscathed in the UAAP Season 84 men’s basketball tournament as they emerged victorious over rivals La Salle Green Archers, 75-68, at the Mall of Asia Arena on Tuesday.
In front of an 11,000-strong pink-clad crowd, the Eagles rode a momentum-shifting 14-0 run in the third quarter to coast to the win and improve to 8-0 for the season. In doing so, they also notched their 34th straight win dating back since October 2018.
The Katipunan-based squad needed to fend off a tough challenge from their rivals, who forced Ange Kouame to ride the bench early because of foul trouble.
It was BJ Andrade and SJ Belangel who began waxing hot from deep to spark the scoring burst in the third quarter to create separation from the pesky Archers, who leaned on big games by Evan Nelle and Kurt Lojera.
Heading into the final quarter, Ateneo was ahead by 13, 60-47.
While the Archers hung around until late in the game, they failed to mount a comeback and get over the hump.
Belangel and Gian Mamuyac paced the Blue Eagles with 15 points each, the former also having well-rounded game with six rebounds, three assists and a block.
Kouame, meanwhile, finished with seven points and nine rebounds.
Lojera and Nelle were the top producers for the Archers with 21 and 20 points, respectively.
La Salle falls to 5-3 in the standings.
The Scores:
ATENEO 75 -- Belangel 15, Mamuyac 15, Ildefonso 9, Andrade 9, Kouame 7, Tio 6, Verano 4, Koon 4, Daves 4, Chiu 2, Lazaro 0, Mendoza 0.
LA SALLE 68 -- Lojera 21, Nelle 20, Winston 10, Baltazar 10, M. Phillips 3, Nonoy 3, Manuel 1, B. Phillips 0, Cuajao 0, Nwankwo 0.
Quarters: 21-18, 35-32, 60-47, 75-68.
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