Defending champion Ateneo left Far Eastern University (FEU) battered and blue with a furious second half to score a come-from-behind 65-55 victory and stay unbeaten in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines Season 82 men’s basketball tournament on Wednesday at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
The Final Four-bound Blue Eagles recovered from 13 points down early in third quarter and poured everything they got on defense in the fourth to extend their perfect run to 11 games. They are now three games shy of sweeping the elimination round for an automatic spot in the Finals.
Ange Kouame finished with 10 points, 15 rebounds and four blocks, while Thirdy Ravena also had 10 points that went with nine boards and two steals for the three-peat seeking Blue Eagles.
“FEU certainly gave us a wakeup call in the first half that we needed,” Blue Eagles Head Coach Tab Baldwin said. “They did a great job. We had to make adjustments.”
“The players just went out in the second half with a purpose that we did not have in the first half,” Baldwin added.
The Tamaraws caught the reigning titlists by surprise and kept them at bay with a 40-29 lead at the half.
LJ Gonzales’s basket with 8:49 left in the third frame sent the gap to 13, the highest FEU had attained since dictating the tempo from tip off.
But it was the best that the Tamaraws could mount as the Blue Eagles turned to beast mode on both ends.
In the first game, De La Salle banked on the big production of Justine Baltazar to subdue University of the East, 65-59.
Baltazar registered 23 points—10 coming in the fourth period—while adding 12 rebounds as the Green Archers improved to 5-5.
Ateneo forced FEU to 24 errors, which it converted to 29 points. The defense was too suffocating that the Blue Eagles had their foes on check during a blistering 13-0 run in the final frame.
Wendell Comboy tried to avert the meltdown with his basket that pulled the Tamaraws to within two, 55-57, with less than three minutes left.
Yet, Koumae commandeered an 8-0 counter to ice the game for Ateneo.
Gonzales topscored for the FEU with 12 points along with six rebounds. No other Tamaraw scored in double-figures as Comboy and Rey Bienes chipped in eight apiece. FEU fell to fifth place at 5-6.
Image credits: Nonoy Lacza