Ateneo dismantles hapless University of Santo Tomas

MANILA, Philippines — Ateneo rolled to its ninth straight win on an 82-57 clobbering of University of Santo Tomas Saturday in the 74th UAAP men’s basketball tournament at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.

The Blue Eagles banked on their unrelenting effort on both ends of the court as they creamed the Growling Tigers for the 11th straight time.

“Today we wanted to get in the flow, and we did a much better job in the offense,” said Ateneo coach Norman Black of his squad’s performance.

Three on the Blue Eagles side did double-digit damage as Nico Salva, Justin Chua and Kiefer Ravena finished with 20, 18 and 14 points respectively.

Salva poured in all of his points, that went along with seven boards, in the first three quarters while Chua scattered 10 of his output in the payoff period as Ateneo surged to as much as 31 points.

Kirk Long and second-stringer Tonino Gonzaga gave Ateneo its biggest advantage at the end of the third quarter and early in the fourth.

The league-leading Blue Eagles also mastered the Growling Tigers in turnover points (24-13) and in fastbreak conversions (19-4).

Turnovers spoiled UST’s bid as it committed 16 turnovers in the first half alone, which gave Ateneo a chance to pull even farther away.

Jeric Teng’s 20 points and Karim Abdul’s season-high 19 rebounds and 12 points hardly mattered as the Growling Tigers absorbed their fifth defeat to tie with La Salle in fourth place.