Filoil: Ateneo stays undefeated; San Beda turns back Perpetual, former coach
Undefeated Ateneo de Manila University continued to bulldoze the field, this time crushing Mapua, 99-55, Friday night in the FilOil Flying V Preseason Cup at FilOil Flying V Centre.
The huge win now allows the Blue Eagles to focus on fierce rival La Salle when both teams clash on Tuesday.
Cote D’Ivoire exchange student Angelo Kouame continued his improvement by posting a double-double of 19 points and 10 rebounds in only 16 minutes of play. Raffy Verano added 12 and Thirdy Ravena and Adrian Wong had 11 as the Blue Eagles led from the start.
Eric Jabel and Laurenz Victoria paced the Cardinals with 12 markers each. After winning their first four games, Mapua is now on a three-game losing streak and is in danger of missing the playoffs.
San Beda University stopped University of Perpetual Help System-Dalta, 74-68, earlier in the day.
San Beda thus notched its fourth win in six games as they continued to hang on to the final playoff spot in Group A.
San Beda looked headed for A runaway victory as Jose Presbitero and Clint Doliguez sizzled early by combining for 18 points in the first half to push the Red Lions comfortably ahead, 37-25.
However, the Altas managed to slowly trim the deficit but their last-ditch effort ran out of time.
“We messed up in the second half but we’ll take this win,” coach Boyet Fernandez said. “I reminded the players that any team can beat us so we have to be consistent.”
Presbitero went on to top the Red Lions with 16 points and three assists. Donald Tankoua had a double-double of 12 points and 15 rebounds while Robert Bolick continued his comeback from injury by adding eight of his 11 points in the second half.
Prince Eze came up big again for the Altas as he came through with 18 points and 19 rebounds but it was not enough to save his squad from its sixth loss in seven outings.
The game drew interest from a lot of fans because it marked the first time San Beda went against its former coach, Frankie Lim, in the tournament.
