Merciless

ANTIPOLO—Ateneo coach Tab Baldwin set the bar high for his two-time defending champion Blue Eagles that routine wins against inferior opposition hardly brought satisfaction in UAAP Season 82.

But with another blowout victory that moved the Eagles to within a win of a 14-game elimination-round sweep on Saturday, the Kiwi-American mentor, for a change, was profuse in his praise for his team.

“I think in the last couple of weeks we’ve seen our team really transfer our work ethic from practice on to the court into the game,” said Baldwin after the Eagles walloped the National U Bulldogs, 88-51, for their most lopsided win this season.

“That’s very gratifying as a coach. I think for two weeks in a row or two games in a row, we’ve come out with a great attitude and it’s been reflected in the way they played.”

What may be satisfying for Baldwin could turn out to be bad news for those still in the running of toppling the Eagles, especially University of the Philippines, which now has the unenviable task of foiling Ateneo’s march to an outright finals berth on Wednesday.

The Fighting Maroons (8-4) still have the De La Salle Green Archers (6-6) to worry about on Sunday in a game with big Final Four implications for both teams.

University of Santo Tomas, meanwhile, already secured a playoff berth for a Final Four spot after the Growling Tigers held off the Adamson Falcons, 80-74, to finish the elimination phase with an 8-6 slate.

The waiting game now starts for the Tigers, who actually have the inside track in the race for a higher seed should three other teams, UP, La Salle and Far Eastern U, finish with identical 8-6 records.

Should they beat University of the East on Sunday, the Tamaraws will have the best quotient out of all the four teams, which will mean a duel with the Tigers for the No. 2 seed.

La Salle will need to beat UP on Sunday and Adamson on Wednesday to stay alive. Couple this with a UP loss to Ateneo on Sunday, and the Archers and the Maroons may find themselves in a playoff for the No. 4 seed.

The worst case scenario for the Tigers is getting dragged into a three-way tie from third to fifth spots involving FEU and La Salle. This situation will come to the fore should UP beat Ateneo on Wednesday, FEU topples UE and La Salle sweeps its remaining games.

In this case, because of their inferior quotient compared to the Tamaraws, the Tigers will have to play the Archers in a knockout game for the No. 4 seed.

“As much as we’re happy with our record, which we achieved even with a young team, we would have wanted to have our fate in our hands,” said Santo Tomas coach Aldin Ayo in Filipino.

Renzo Subido knocked down a contested triple from the corner and hit two free throws inside the final 1:36 as the Growling Tigers survived the Falcons’ late uprising and avenged their first-round loss.

Rookie Mark Nonoy who keyed the third-quarter run that gave the Tigers a 10-point cushion heading into the final canto, finished with 17 points, while Soulemane Chabi Yo chipped in 16 points and 15 boards.

“We were tight—all of us from the players and coaching staff,” said Ayo in explaining his team’s performance.

“This is a learning experience for us and the players are still working on how to handle the pressure.”

The Blue Eagles broke out of the gates hard and never looked back as they authored their most authoritative win of the season.

Ange Kouame finished with 17 points and 13 rebounds in just 23 minutes, while Thirdy Ravena tallied 15 points and four rebounds for Ateneo, which had 14 players scoring at least three points.

It was another heavy defeat for the Bulldogs, whose once-promising season has turned out to be a nightmare after they suffered a fourth straight loss for a 2-11 record.

The Bulldogs’ struggles were characterized by main man Dave Ildefonso, who was held to just two points after averaging 16.2 points in the first 12 games of the campaign.