UP Maroons celebrate after beating Ateneo Blue Eagles. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
University of the Philippines beat Ateneo for the first time in seven years after a 56-52 upset on Saturday at the start of the second round in the UAAP Season 79 men’s basketball tournament at Mall of Asia Arena.
Gelo Vito buried a dagger 3-pointer to beat the shot clock for a 54-50 cushion with 16.4 seconds left before Jett Manuel sealed the game with two free throws with 7.2 ticks remaining as the Fighting Maroon snapped a 14-game losing skid to the Blue Eagles dating back to 2009.
“The main thing we discussed looking at the second, we really believe that we’re better than 1-6,” said UP head coach Bo Perasol. “I believe that if we’re just able to close out games, we could’ve won a couple more games.”
“I was telling the players most specially Jett and the other graduating players that we’re not going to wait another seven years to beat Ateneo again,” added Perasol, who was the coach of the Blue Eagles last season.
Manuel scored a game-high 15 points while Paul Desiderio added nine. Vito, who was 0-of-8 from the 3-point area coming into the game, finished with seven points and five rebounds.
“Credit really goes to my players. They really displayed great determination especially in the endgame. They just did it,” said Perasol.
“It was a good team win. Before this game, I told the team it can’t be just two, three, four players to win the ball game,” Manuel said. “I stressed to the team that someone has to step up and I’m happy that Gelo stepped up big time but everyone coach put into the game stepped up.”
With the victory, UP also ended a three-game skid and tied University of the East and University of Santo Tomas at 2-6.
The Eagles didn’t play the kind of game they had hoped for especially after coming off a crushing 97-81 defeat to De La Salle on Sunday to end the first round. They fell to 4-4.
Both teams had to bleed for points. Ateneo shot just 30% from the field with Adrian Wong and Chi Ikeh pacing the team with 10 points each. Wong shot just 4-of-13 from the field.