UAAP: Ateneo rebounds, blasts skidding UP

Von Pessumal waves off his defender. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

Ateneo redeemed itself from a major meltdown four days ago with a rout of a plummeting University of the Philippines, 56-43, in the UAAP Season 78 men’s basketball tournament Wednesday at Mall of Asia Arena.

Kiefer Ravena struggled on the offensive end but his teammates picked up the slack with Von Pessumal, John Apacible and Matt Nieto giving the Blue Eagles a lift.

“This is a good bounce back game for us. Unlike last game, we only allowed our opponents to 11 points this time. We also did not score six points in the fourth quarter,” said Ateneo head coach Bo Perasol. “So we talked about how we can close out games. Most of the time we start well but it’s a matter of how we close out games.”

“What’s important is we get the win. We just wanna do everything to help the team win whether its getting rebounds, assists or steals,” Ravena said of his 5-of-18 shooting from the field.

Ravena, though, still came away with a double-double, collecting 11 points and 11 rebounds on top of his four assists and two steals.

Pessumal also had 11 while Apacible chipped in eight on 4-of-4 shooting from the field.

Ateneo quickly put its 68-58 loss to University of Santo Tomas last Saturday behind, where it blew a 16-point lead it built late in the third quarter.

Paul Desiderio scored a game-high 12 points that went with eight rebounds for UP, but the Maroons couldn’t get anything from their star guard Jett Manuel, who was shut down the entire game.

Manuel came up empty, missing all of his seven field goal attempts in close to 19 minutes of play.

The Blue Eagles improved to 4-2 heading into their much-anticipated showdown with fierce rival De La Salle on Sunday while the Fighting Maroons reeled to their fourth loss in a row and dropped to 2-4.