BJ Andrada: Nice to do the opening shots. —UAAP MEDIA
Once again, the Ateneo Blue Eagles proved themselves like no other in the UAAP.
Again, coach Tab Baldwin remained unimpressed.
The defending champions got their ninth straight win after fired University of the East (UE), 76-63, on Tuesday to continue unbeaten in Season 84’s men’s basketball tournament.
The first time the two teams played this year, the Warriors hung around for two and a half innings before winning the fourth inning. The Warriors were in this quarter for a quarter, before their offensive behavior was thwarted by the Eagles, who picked up just three points in the second half to rise to a 38-20 lead at the break.
“I’m not very happy with that,” said Baldwin, the Ateneo coach, who has now led the Eagles to 35 straight wins, before adding: “Because in the second half we had a hard time. difficult in terms of defense and counter-attack.”
“We handled UE exceptionally well or maybe well enough to win,” he added.
It was the team’s coach whose first-quarter yield matched what UE could say in the whole half.
The Eagles lead with 23 points, made just 10 away runs and provided an assist in 26 of their 29 goals scored. They shot from the pitch poorly (29 of 79, 36.7 per cent) but took the top 19 from keeper BJ Andrada, who finished sixth out of eight from the floor, including five of them. seven words outside the arc.
Baldwin still finds reason to be worried – and judging by the play of the two opponents, that may be right.
“We want to have a non-soft mentality when we [rack up wins],” Baldwin said. “Because other teams will come right to you. If we do not [continue working harder] We make things harder for ourselves. ”
UP’s hot streak
Two of the teams expected to come to them are the University of the Philippines, which is on a hot road of its own, and La Salle. The two teams made contrasting wins on Saturday, putting them in Ateneo’s heel.
The Maroons won their eighth game in a row — they haven’t lost since bowing to Ateneo on opening day — when Zavier Lucero and Malick Diouf served crunchtime for a 73-70 victory over Far Eastern University.
Tamaraws lost 3-6 after rookie star RJ Abarrientos missed a potential treble that forced the match at the siren.
“We are looking for more consistency [and] we’re getting there,” said UP guard Ricci Rivero, who has 19 points. “I’m just happy with the way we finished the game today because a lot of times we were ahead and [lose steam]. ”
Dumping buckets
Deschon Winston, meanwhile, scored a career-high 33 points when La Salle was knocked out University of Santo Tomas (UST), 112-83, in the second game.
The 6-foot-4 Filipino-American, who played for Central Michigan University in the NCAA Division 1, has flocked to UST’s defense and could have scored more if he hadn’t been dragged after 3/4.
“The only person who can stop him is me because I kicked him out,” said Archers coach Derrick Pumaren, after the score improved to 6-3.
The Tigers took their sixth loss to three wins.
Ateneo had some time for their second unit after zooming beyond the reach of UE and the Warriors, through brothers Kyle and Nico Paranada, showed off some fights and finished 51. -40 at the end of the third quarter.
Center and national team star Ange Kouame finished with 14 points and 15 rebounds to thwart Andrada’s hot shot.
Andrada said: “I attribute the victory to our preparations over the Easter holiday. “We performed well as a team. Me, I’m just happy to have taken open shots. ” INQ
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