Eagles rip Bulldogs to shreds, near sweep
Eagles mow down hapless Bulldogs by 37 to move within a win of sweep and outright title series slot
Ateneo showed no mercy in ripping National U, 88-51 on Saturday, to move within another win of a sweep and an outright title series berth for the UAAP men’s basketball crown.
ANTIPOLO—ATENEO coach Tab Baldwi n se tt he bar high for his two-time defending champion Blue Eagles tha tro uti ne w ins agains ti nferior oppositio nha rd lyb rought satisfaction in UAAP Season 82.
But wit h an other blowout victory that move dt he Eagles to withi naw in of a 14-game elimination-round sweep on Saturday, t he K iwi-american mentor ,f or a change, was profuse i nh i sp rai sef or his team.
“I think in the last couple of weeks we’ve seen ou rt eam really transfe ro ur wor ke thic fro mp ractice on to t he c ourt in to t he game,” said Baldwin afte rt he Eagles wallope dt he National U Bulldogs, 88-51, for their most lopsided win this season.
“That’s ver yg ratifyi ng as a coach. I thi nkf ort wo weeks in a row ort wo games i na row, we’ve come out wit hag reat attitud ean dit ’s been reflecte din the way they played.”
What may be satisfyi ngf or Baldwi nc oul dt urn ou t to be bad news f ort ho ses till in the running of toppling the Eagles, especially University of the Philippines, whi chn ow has the unenviable task o ff oili nga teneo’s march to an outright finals berth o nwe dnesday.
The Fighting Maroons (8-4) still have the De La Salle Green Archers (6-6) to worr yab ou ton Sunday i nagamew it hb i gf inal Fo ur implicatio ns f or both teams.
University of Santo Tomas, meanwhile, already secured a playoff bert hf or af inal Four spot afte rt heg rowli ngt igers hel do ff t hea damson Falcons, 80-74, to finish the elimination phase with an 8-6 slate.
The waiting game now start sf ort het igers, who actually have the inside track in the race for ah igher seed should three othe rt eams, UP, La Salle and Fa re aster n U, f ini shw ith identical 8-6 records.
Shoul dt hey beat University of the Eas to n Sunday, the Tamaraws will have the best quotien to u to f all t he f our teams, whi chw ill mean a duel with t he T iger sf or t he N o .2 seed.
La Salle will nee dto beat UP on Sunday and Adamson on Wednesday to stay alive. Couple thi sw it h a UP l oss to Atene oo n Sunday, an dt hea rchers an dt he Maroons may find themselves in a playo fff ort he
No .4see d.
The worst case scenario for t het igers i sge tting dragge di nto a three-way ti ef rom third to fift hsp ots involvi ngf E Uan d La Salle. Thi ss ituatio nw i llc ome to t hef or esh ould UP beat Ateneo o nwe dnesday, FEU topples UE and La Salle sweeps its remaining games.
In this case, because of
their inferior quotient compared to the Tamaraws, the Tigers will have to play the Archers in a knockout game for the No. 4 seed.
“As much as we’re happy with our record, which we achieved even with a young team, we would have wanted to have our fate in our hands,” said Santo Tomas coach Aldin Ayo in Filipino.
Renzo Subido knocked down a contested triple from the corner and hit two free throws inside the final 1:36 as the Growling Tigers survived the Falcons’ late uprising and avenged their first-round loss.
Rookie Mark Nonoy who keyed the third-quarter run that gave the Tigers a 10-point cushion heading into the final canto, finished with 17 points, while Soulemane Chabi Yo chipped in 16 points and 15 boards.
“We were tight—all of us from the players and coaching staff,” said Ayo in explaining his team’s performance.
“This is a learning experience for us and the players are still working on how to handle the pressure.”
The Blue Eagles broke out of the gates hard and never looked back as they authored their most authoritative win of the season.
Ange Kouame finished with 17 points and 13 rebounds in just 23 minutes, while Thirdy Ravena tallied 15 points and four rebounds for Ateneo, which had 14 players scoring at least three points.
It was another heavy defeat for the Bulldogs, whose once-promising season has turned out to be a nightmare after they suffered a fourth straight loss for a 2-11 record.
The Bulldogs’ struggles were characterized by main man Dave Ildefonso, who was held to just two points after averaging 16.2 points in the first 12 games of the campaign.