By NIKOLE JAVIER
Ateneo survived University of the East in overtime, 69-66, to secure a Final Four berth in the second round of the UAAP Season 85 men’s basketball tournament on Wednesday night, Nov. 23, at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
Kai Ballungay had a 14-point outing on a perfect 5-of-5 shooting clip and another 4-of-4 from the foul line.
On the other hand, Dave Ildefonso and Ange Kouame both finished with double-double performances with the former tallying 12 points on top of 14 rebounds while the top defensive player of the season also delivered 12 apart from 12 boards to help Ateneo improve 9-3 in the standings.
The Blue Eagles, who couldn’t entirely untangle themselves from the Red Warriors in the first half, had to dig deep in the extra period and come away with a three-point turnaround to secure their Final Four seat.
Ildefonso, who only shot one of his three freebies on the line, knocked down the game-tying triple in regulation to force overtime.
Determined to break its 11-game losing streak to Ateneo, Abdul Sawat unwrapped the extra period with quick baskets to make it 66-62 for UE.
However, BJ Andrade’s lone free throw off a technical foul from the Red Warriors’ bench turned the game around as Kouame knocked down four more points to pull Ateneo within one.
With half a second to go, Ildefonso came up with two huge rebounds which enabled Forthsky Padrigao to draw a foul and drained both of his freebies to ice the game.
“Sometimes winning ugly is not necessarily the way that you wanna win, but it’s just as valuable in the standings. Everybody’s very mindful of the standings and it’s distracting, really. UE was in control of that game for 44 minutes and they deserve better really than a tough loss. We had to dig deep and rebound the ball. If we have championship aspirations, we have to shoot a lot better,” said Ateneo head coach Tab Baldwin.
For UE’s part, Rey Remogat’s 21-point finish went for naught while Luis Villegas had 11 in the losing effort, marking the end of its Final Four contention of the season with a 4-9 win-loss tally.
The Scores:
ATENEO 69 -- Ballungay 14, Ildefonso 12, Kouame 12, Padrigao 9, Andrade 6, Gomez 6, Lazaro 5, Koon 3, Daves 2, Garcia 0, Chiu 0.
UE 66 -- Remogat 21, Villegas 11, Sawat 6, Pagsanjan 5, K. Paranada 5, Stebens 5, Payawal 5, Gilbuena 4, N. Paranada 2, Tulabut 2, Beltran 0, Alcantara 0.
Quarters: 18-11, 29-30, 47-50, 62-62, 69-66.