Ateneo's 50-point routing of University of Santo Tomas Thursday, April 21 reset some UAAP records for the Katipunan-based squad under the guidance of multi-titled coach Tab Baldwin.
The Blue Eagles crushed the Growling Tigers from the get-go and pulled away with a 101-51 victory in the UAAP Season 84 men's basketball tournament at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
The win marked the highest margin in the league since the computerization of statistics in 2003, per league statistician Pong Ducanes, surpassing De La Salle’s 43-point beating of UST back on October 23, 2016 at 99-56.
This was also Ateneo's third highest scoring output under the tutelage of Baldwin. Unfortunately, UST had to suffer the demolition for the third time as well.
In Season 80, the Thirdy Ravena-led Eagles routed the winless Growling Tigers, 102-83, on November 4, 2017.
A year later, history repeated itself as Ateneo whipped UST, 102-62, on November 4, 2018 in Season 81.
The Eagles eventually completed their three-peat campaign in Season 82. As of this writing, Ateneo is just four wins away from yet another elimination sweep.
A sweep or not, the Eagles have already secured the first ticket to the Final Four.
Baldwin earlier downplayed the records achieved by his team but this time around, the three-time UAAP champion coach felt a sense of accomplishment after the win against UST.
As far as numbers are concerned, Baldwin commended his wards for holding off UST to only 28.6 percent shooting from the field. The Tigers only shot 20 out of their 70 attempts.
The American-Kiwi tactician, after all, just wanted to get the job done with utmost discipline -- a simple yet effective winning formula at least for the Eagles.
"I think that it was a pretty comprehensive performance on both ends of the floor and that feels good to everybody," said the former Gilas Pilipinas head coach.
"When I think you walk off the floor feeling like you've played 40 minutes of basketball as a team and that's really our job so we feel pretty good about that I think." ###