FILE – Matt Nieto launches a 3 during Gilas cadets game in the Filoil pre-season tournament. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
Ateneo isn’t messing around and Chinese Taipei-A, the country’s national team, found that out too on Saturday night.
The Blue Eagles cut another giant down to size in dramatic fashion after a last-second triple by Matt Nieto stunned the host Taiwanese, 77-76, in the 2018 William Jones Cup at Xinzhuang Gymnasium.
With Ateneo down two, Nieto buried the clutch 3-pointer off a well-designed sideline inbound play by head coach Tab Baldwin with 0.3 tenths of a second left.
Nieto finished with 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field to lead the Blue Eagles, who rolled to their fourth straight victory after a 1-2 start.
Liu Cheng and Chen Ying-Chun carried much of the offensive load for Chinese Taipei as they combined for 41 points.
Cheng, who fired a game-high 24 points, was impressive on both ends of the floor with 10 rebounds, seven steals and three blocks.
Ateneo (5-2), which lost to top teams 3D Global Sports of Canada and South Korea, wraps up its campaign against Iran, which is currently tied with the Canadians and South Koreans in first place with identical 6-1 records, on Sunday.
The Eagles have also beaten Chinese Taipei’s B team, Japan, Indonesia and Lithuania.