How Ateneo Eaglets won it

TWO kids with men mentality made Ateneo UAAP basketball juniors champion last week.

Kai Sotto, 15, and SJ Belangel, 18, were boysturned-adults as they hit late-game blows that were too mature to be parried by teens their age.

Thus was the story of the Ateneo-National University Game 3 decider on March 2 at the FilOil Flying Arena in San Juan City.

It was virtually a seesaw battle until Sotto and Belangel transformed from boys to men in the dying seconds of the game.

Plagued by fouls and seeing his team down by 54-48, Sotto practically took matters into his own hands by firing seven of his game-high 19 points in the last 4:18 of the game.

Absolutely a mountain taller than Mt. Everest, Sotto, 7-foot-1, also swatted away three shots, including one when NU was hotly staging a rally.

In hauling down 13 rebounds on Friday to make it another double-double performance in Ateneo’s title-clinching 63-58 victory, Sotto also amassed 19 blocks overall, eclipsing the total of 15 combined rejections recorded by his rivals in the series.

But in jubilation, Sotto also found a rock-solid ally in the always dependable Belangel, who completed a three-point play triggering a 6-0 Ateneo run on the tailend of Sotto’s own threepoint play for a 58-58 count.

After a missed drive by Belangel before a phalanx of NU’s desperate defenders, Sotto grabbed his 13th board for a quick putback and-one, giving Ateneo a 61-58 lead with 25.3 seconds left.

By now rattled amid the combined eruptions of Sotto and Belangel, NU’s sizzling shooters suddenly turned cold before Ateneo’s