Nico Salva of Ateneo is harassed by Kim Lo and Paolo Pe of UST in their first game of the UAAP 75 finals at the MOA Arena in Pasay City Saturday, Oct. 6, 2012. The Blue Eagles won 83-78 and will try to win the championship against UST on Thursday, Oct. 11, 2012 at the Araneta Coliseum. AUGUST DELA CRUZ
MANILA, Philippines – Ateneo hung tough in the fourth quarter for an 83-78 win over University of Santo Tomas in game one of the 75th UAAP men’s basketball finals Saturday at Mall of Asia Arena.
The Blue Eagles stifled the Growling Tigers with a 17-0 run in the third quarter, but had to battle toe-to-toe in the payoff period where expected names scored the big baskets.
Ateneo has a chance to close out the series and win its fifth straight title, and the last under head coach Norman Black, in game two on Thursday at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Nico Salva was scorching throughout the game and finished with 30 big points, setting a new career record on his last finals series in the league.
Salva’s final two points swung the lead back to Ateneo with 6:29 left, and the Blue Eagles never relinquished the lead.
Ryan Buenafe, who has always delivered for Ateneo in the clutch, scored a trey over Jeric Teng plus the foul which made it a seven-point lead with three minutes to go.
Four straight buckets from Juami Tiongson, the player UST head coach Pido Jarencio has been wary about from the start, gave his squad enough cushion to take any last ditch rally from the Tigers.
“Juami has always stepped up and played a big game for us,” said Black, who also said the same about Buenafe. “Ryan is a big time player. He’s done it over and over again for us.”
Buenafe and Tiongson combined for 22 points while Kiefer Ravena, who struggled in the first half, sparked the pivotal run and chalked up 13 points.
The Growling Tigers, scoreless for more than six minutes in the third quarter, opened up the fourth, determined to snatch the lead back.
A 13-2 run made capped by a slam by Karim Abdul gave UST a 64-63 edge, but couldn’t keep up with Ateneo in the final six minutes en route to its loss.
“They did pretty much what I expected them to do,” said Black of UST’s performance.
Jeric Teng was spectacular in his first finals stint in the UAAP, leading his squad with 25 points, as he tried to singlehandedly save his squad from the jaws of defeat.
Teng nailed six straight markers in the final minute to trim the lead to three, but the Tigers ran out of time.
Mariano had 22 points and 12 boards for UST, who has a chance to relive 2006 by winning the last two games of the series.
Kevin Ferrer and Abdul were hobbled by foul trouble and pitched in 13 and nine markers, respectively, for the Growling Tigers.