UAAP: All hype as Ateneo thrashes NU

SLAUGHTERED PARKS. Ray “Bobby” Parks Jr. of NU is fouled on the way to the basket by Greg Slaughter of Ateneo. The Eagles thrashed the Bulldogs, 86-62, at UAAP’s 74th Season of the men’s basketball tournament Thursday, July 21, 2011. AUGUST DELA CRUZ/INQUIRER

MANILA, Philippines–What was hyped as an exciting battle turned out to be the most lopsided victory so far as Ateneo thrashed National University, 86-62, in the 74th UAAP Men’s basketball at the Araneta Coliseum Thursday.

The Blue Eagles simply proved they’re still the force to reckon with as they toyed around with the Bulldogs all-game long, notching a record-tying 30 assists and converting 29 points off turnovers.

“We just wanted to run on every opportunity,” said Ateneo head coach Norman Black whose squad tied FEU on the most number of assists in a game.

“I never expect to win by a larger margin but I’ll take it,” Black added.

The only window Ateneo gave NU was a 5-4 lead in the early minutes of the game, and that was before a game-changing 10-0 strikeback that gave the Eagles the advantage for good.

The Blue Eagles looked good even from downtown when four straight triples from Kirk Long and sophomore Juami Tiongson padded the lead to its biggest at 32 points by the end of the third quarter.

Greg Slaughter, Nico Salva, and Kirk Long all finished with double digits for the Blue Eagles, who remain unscathed after three games.

Slaughter, the seven-foot national team member, finished with 15 points and seven rebounds while Salva and Long added 12 and 11 markers respectively.

Even the anticipated clash of the two best rookies never peaked as the face-to-face showdown between Ray Parks and Kiefer Ravena never came.

It was the crafty scorer Long who was tasked to man Parks and held him to just three points the entire first half.

“He [Long] did a good job [on guarding Parks],” said Black.

Although Parks got the better of the scoring with a game-high 20 points compared to Ravena’s 13, half of his points was when the Bulldogs were trailing by a whopping 30 points.

Emmanuel Mbe of Cameroon finished with 10 points but managed to haul just two rebounds and failed to help sustain the run that inched the Bulldogs to within 17-21.

NU, which is trying to make it to the final four after 10 years, dropped its second assignment.