By Olmin Leyba (The Philippine Star) - MANILA, Philippines - Ateneo left little doubt as to which the dominant team in UAAP Season 74 is, overpowering contender Far Eastern U, 69-49, to sweep the first round of the eliminations yesterday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The Blue Eagles choked the Tamaraws to nine points in the third quarter to rip the game apart, 47-35, and pounded on the hapless FEU dribblers in the payoff period to run away with their seventh straight triumph.
It was the third time for Ateneo to bring out the broom in the initial phase of elims, having done the trick previously in 2004 and 2006. It won its last 10 games dating back to 2010’s Final Four.
The Tams were still at a reachable 42-51 deficit at the 6:44 mark until they lost their cool due to a perceived bad call that somehow aided a 14-0 counter-assault by the Eagles.
The Tams contested a foul slapped against Terrence Romeo, with the FEU sophomore assessed a technical for “pointing an accusing finger at the referee” and coach Bert Flores getting his own T for “excessive complaining.”
Emman Monfort sank three of the four subsequent charities, then Kirk Long drained a triple at the same time as FEU’s Russel Escoto called for an unsportsmanlike foul that led to two converted free throws from Greg Slaughter.
“Some of that (Ateneo breakaway) happened because they (Tams) lost their composure. We’re already separated but it helped the separation even more,” said Black, stressing the importance of not losing focus to avoid giving away easy points to opponents.
Earlier, University of Santo Tomas rode on the leadership of Jeric Fortuna to trample University of the Philippines, 68-49, and arrest a three-game slide.
while grabbing nine rebounds and dishing off two assists to power the Tigers to their third win in six outings for a share of fourth with idle La Salle.
“Basta ako wala akong masabi sa leader ko,” UST coach Pido Jarencio said of his 5-7 guard. “Siya ang pundasyon ng team na ito; pag maganda ang tinakbo niya, maganda rin ang takbo ng team.”
Fortuna capped an explosive first quarter run that pushed UST ahead, 25-15, a lead the Tigers never relinquished, extending it to 53-32 early in the fourth.
Melo Afuang added 13 points while Karim Abdul (eight points and 14 rebounds) and Chris Camus (eight markers and 12 boards) did their thing inside.
Jeric Teng (sprained ankle) and Kevin Ferrer (just discharged from hospital due to high fever) played limited minutes but UST got contributions from second stringers Sheak Sheriff (five) and Kim Lo (four).
“Lahat ng dapat mag-contribute tumulong ngayon. Yung second group malaking tulong kaya nakapagpahinga si Fort (Fortuna) at gumanda ang laro hanggang sa dulo,” Jarencio said.
UP (2-4), which failed to sustain momentum from its 76-63 shocker over Far Eastern U the last time out, was led by Jelo Montecastro’s nine and Mike Silungan’s eight points.
UP’s 17 points after first half was lowest since National U scored 10 midway through their Aug. 27, 2009 game against Ateneo.
