An elimination round sweep for an outright Finals berth in UAAP Season 80. Ateneo continued narrowing its focus to that important goal.
The Blue Eagles flicked off the obstacle the University of Santo Tomas tried to pose, using a strong finish to hammer out a 102-83 victory Saturday afternoon at Smart Araneta Coliseum that forced the Tigers to confront a cold, hard truth: A storied program could crash to its first winless season.
The Blue Eagles stretched their undefeated run to 12 games, putting them within two wins of marching to the championship round outright. The Tigers, meanwhile, dropped their 13th straight match and are now just a loss away from fulfilling doomsayers’ prophecies of a 0-14 season.
La Salle secured a top two spot after shooting down National University, 101-76, in the second game.
The Green Archers rose to 11-2 while dealing a big blow to the Bulldogs’ Final Four bid. The loss was NU’s eighth in 12 games as the Bulldogs will now have to rely on other teams in hopes to making the semifinals.
La Salle immediately built momentum as early as the second quarter going on a 23-9 run with Ben Mbala giving the Green Archers a 43-27 lead late in the period and the defending champions never looked back.
“I think we’re getting better every game because we make it a point to follow the game plan the coaches set up,” said Ricci Rivero in Filipino.
After watching their 65-49 lead melt to just five, 75-70, at the end of the third, the Blue Eagles responded soundly in the fourth and put the Growling Tigers in their place.
Ateneo mounted a 17-7 run with Thirdy Ravena capping it off with the most vicious of finishes—dunking home a tomahawk from just inside the circle to give the Blue Eagles a 92-77 lead with 2:22 left in the game.