By NIKOLE JAVIER
Ateneo breezed past University of Santo Tomas with a 72-55 victory in the second round of the UAAP Season 85 men’s basketball tournament Thursday night, Nov. 17, at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
BJ Andrade and Ange Kouame proved to be the reliables for the Blue Eagles after finishing with a similar 14-point outing with the latter hauling an additional seven rebounds in the dominant win.
Forthsky Padrigao also added 10 markers apart from seven rounds in Ateneo’s seventh win against three losses as it inched closer to a playoffs bid.
The Blue Eagles shrugged off an early surge by the Growling Tigers, 3-10, before sewing up the opening period with a 19-0 run which was telling of the next three quarters.
Unleashing another 27-10 rally to grab its biggest lead of the match of 25 points in the third frame, Ateneo proved to be a real piece of work for UST to confront.
From then on, the Blue Eagles wasted no opportunity and even earning 10 points on a perfect shooting from the foul line — allowing them to take all shots they could get.
“We’re pretty happy with the result, obviously, not just the win,” said Blue Eagles mentor Tab Baldwin. “I thought it was, apart from the second quarter, I thought we were cohesive in the game. Players knew what they were doing out there.”
For UST’s side, Nic Cabanero’s 26-point performance went down the drain as frustrations continue to pile up for the España-based crew, falling deeper in a 1-9 hole.
The Scores:
ATENEO 72 -- Andrade 14, Kouame 14, Padrigao 10, Koon 9, Ildefonso 5, Garcia 5, Chiu 4, Lazaro 3, Fetalvero 3, Fornilos 3, Ballungay 2, Quitevis 0, Daves 0, Lao 0, Ong 0.
UST 55 -- Cabanero 26, Faye 10, Manalang 6, Pangilinan 6, Duremdes 5, Manaytay 2, Calimag 0, Laure 0, Mantua 0, Gesalem 0, Herrera 0.
Quarters: 22-10, 35-27, 62-37, 72-55.