MANILA — Greg Slaughter keyed Ateneo’s decisive breakaway from a winless University of the East side that stubbornly refused to go away.
The Blue Eagles, backing up Slaughter’s heroics with a tight defense in the second half, eventually downed the Warriors, 73-61, to notch their fourth straight victory and keep the solo top spot in the UAAP men’s basketball tournament Saturday at the Araneta Coliseum.
Slaughter dropped 18 points, seven in a pivotal run in the third quarter that gave the Eagles their first double-digit lead, 41-31, from a slim 28-25 halftime advantage.
“It wasn’t the prettiest game, that’s for sure,” said Ateneo coach Norman Black. “We struggled the entire game. It was a pretty difficult game for us. Luckily, we didn’t turn the ball over too much.”
Ateneo’s fierce rival La Salle picked up its first triumph with a 79-67 decision over the University of the Philippines earlier.
Luigi dela Paz collected 14 points, seven rebounds and four assists to power the more cohesive Archers, who also posted the biggest rebounding margin in the league in four years.
“We played aggressive ball,” said La Salle coach Dindo Pumaren after the Archers tied the Maroons at 1-2 along with idle NU.
“We controlled the ball and shared the ball more compared to our last two games.”
The Archers outrebounded the Maroons, 64-38, just four boards off Ateneo’s record of 68-38 also against UP last July 12, 2007.
Arnold Van Opstal—who posted 13 markers and six rebounds—Yutien Andrada and Norbert Torres provided the inside presence for the Archers, who had seven players grabbing six boards or more.
“That’s also one reason we won, we involved the big guys,” said Pumaren. “Compared to our last two games, we were not pounding on our big guys.”
The 5-foot-11 Kiefer Ravena also fired 13 points, including a slam that gave the Eagles a 71-49 spread and doomed the Warriors to their fourth straight loss.
Nico Salva drained 10 markers and the pint-sized Emman Monfort delivered another all-around effort with nine points, six boards and four assists.
The Eagles impressively only had six turnovers the entire game while the Warriors had 16.
“UE did a very good job in the man-to-man defense, that took us out of our offensive game ,” Black said of the Warriors, who even grabbed the lead several times in the first half.
First Game
LA SALLE 79—Dela Paz 14, Van Opstal 13, Tampus 13, Andrada 11, Revilla 9, Atkins 7, Villanueva 6, Torres 4, Vosotros 2, Sara 0, Gotladera 0, Webb 0, Mrendoza 0, Marata 0.
UP 67—Silungan 16, Mbah 15, Manuel 13, Montecastro 11, Gomez 5, Juruena 4, Gamboa 3, Romero 0,Pascual 0, Maniego 0, Gingerich 0.
Quarters: 20-12, 36-29, 59-39, 79-67
Second Game
ATENEO 73—Slaughter 18, Ravena 13, Salva 10, Monfort 9, Long 9, Tiongson 8, Erram 2, Chua 2, Austria 2, Pessumal 0, Sumalinog 0, Gonzaga 0, Golla 0.
UE 61—Zamar 13, Noble 11, Javier 9, Santos 7, De Leon 6, Sumang 5, Enguio 5, Chavez 2, Tagarda 2, Flores 1, Montelibano 0, Subido 0, Duran 0.
Quarters: 16-14, 28-25, 51-39, 73-61