MANILA, Philippines—Cignal-Ateneo rallied past Petron-Colegio de San Juan de Letran, 83-64, in the 2019 PBA D-League Thursday at Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig.
After trailing the Knights 35-36 heading into the third quarter, the Blue Eagles got their act together with BJ Andrade firing 10 of his 13 points in the period to help Ateneo get a 63-54 lead.
The Blue Eagles then ran amuck taking a 20-point lead, 82-62, late in the match.
Ateneo improved to a 4-1 record to get sole possession of the third spot in the Aspirants Group behind 4-0 teams University of Santo Tomas and St. Clare. Petron-Letran, meanwhile, is at fifth with a 3-2 card.
Angelo Kouame held the paint for Ateneo with 10 points and 11 rebounds while Matthew Daves missed out on a double-double finishing with 10 points and nine boards.
“Our discipline wasn’t good in the first half and that’s not the right recipe to play successful basketball,” said Blue Eagles head coach Tab Baldwin. “But we sorted things out, BJ, Mike [Nieto], hit some shots and that got us in the right track.”
“We did what we have to do.”
Nieto led Ateneo’s offense with 12 points.
Jerrick Balanza led the Knights, who saw their three-game winning streak snapped, with 16 points and four rebounds.