Ateneo completes first-round sweep at expense of FEU

MANILA, Philippines—Ateneo’s bid for a fourth straight championship set out with a perfect first round in the 74th UAAP men’s basketball.

The defending champion Ateneo capped the sweep with a 69-49 clobbering of Far Eastern University in a rematch of last year’s finals Sunday at the Araneta Coliseum.

“Right now we just want to pile up wins,” said Ateneo’s longtime mentor Norman Black whose squad swept the first round for the third time since the final four format was created.

The Blue Eagles were already gearing toward pulling away midway the fourth quarter when a series of calls against the Tamaraws aided the defending champions in cracking the game wide open.

Ateneo capitalized on two technicals and an unsporstmanlike foul by the Tams to bang in 14 unanswered points en route to a 23-point advantage with 3:59 to play.

Kirk Long unleashed two triples, Emman Monfort and Greg Slaughter combined for five-of-six from the stripe while Kiefer Ravena highlighted the demoralizing run with a putback plus the foul, without the ball even going back to FEU’s court.

“We came up with a lot of stops in the fourth quarter. We created more separation,” said Black.

The prized rookie Ravena, living up to the hype, starred anew with 19 points and nine rebounds as everyone but two from the Ateneo side scored at least a point.

But more than the onslaught, the Blue Eagles stood tough on defense limiting the Tamaraws to just 20 points spanning the second and third periods.

“I didn’t expect to win this big. FEU is one of the best defensive teams in the league,” said Black of this squad’s seventh win.

But the Tamaraws couldn’t do much as Slaughter, who had 15 markers and plucked 11 boards, trooped to the line more than the entire FEU sqaud.

Reigning MVP RR Garcia managed 15 points on a bad shooting night to lead his squad in a losing cause as FEU closed the first round with a 4-3 record.

“It was different in the second half. We lost our momentum with the calls, that’s why they [Ateneo] were able to pull away,” said Garcia of his squad’s performance.

FEU kept within striking distance of Ateneo in the first half before it let the Blue Eagles surge with a double-digit advantage to close out the third.

But the Tamaraws’ problems were compounded when guard Terrence Romeo was called for a personal and a technical foul followed by another technical foul on their head coach Bert Flores.

Just as Long knocked in his first trey in that stretch which pushed the Tamaraws further down, 57-42, Russel Escoto was slapped with an unsportsmanlike foul for shoving Slaughter as they were jockeying for position.