Ateneo Blue Eaglets continue to roll

Blue Eaglets continue to roll

by rick olivares

The Ateneo Blue Eaglets kicked in the afterburners in the second period to destroy UST, 78-54, to remain undefeated in eight matches in the UAAP Juniors Division at the Filoil Flying V Centre.

How did they get the win?

UST started out well (same as they did in their first round encounter) with superb shooting from Jezreel Villapando while playing with a lot of energy and a willingness to take the game inside to the Eaglets. Villapando drilled two triples and a medium range jumper to inspire UST.

Defensively, Ateneo didn’t close down the shooters and gave the Tiger Cubs lots of space to make their shots. Furthermore, after surrendering an early layup to Ateneo courtesy of a nifty crossover by Joaqui Manuel for an all-alone layup, UST’s zone forced the Eaglets to attempt three triples next time down the floor. And they forced Ateneo into two 24-second shot clock violations.

Ateneo didn’t help themselves by missing six free throws in the first period. However, they ended it on a positive note as they played better towards its end despite being down 18-13.

If an opposing team wants to stop Ateneo, they need to prevent them from running because they are dangerous in the open court and a free-flowing game. SJ Belangel, Dave Ildefonso, Joaqui Manuela, Jason Credo thrive in this kind of game.

It was also the entry of Credo late in the second period (he didn’t enter right away as he had uniform problems) that changed the game. He immediately spun around CJ Cansino for a layup. Then he wreaked havoc on the defensive end. He stopped Villapando from doing any more damage and gave CJ Cansino fits. Credo relishes the defensive challenges and has more often than not taken on the opposing team’s top scorer. A lot of this denial and tough D does not reflect in his personal stats.

As a whole, Ateneo turned the game around on the defensive end.

Stats:

Steals 5 to UST’s 1

Blocks 9 to UST’s 0.

Defensive rebounds 45 to UST’s 28.

Their willingness to contest UST’s shots saw the Tiger Cubs’ shooting drop from the high 30s in the first quarter to 26% the rest of the way.

Aside from Villapando who was held scoreless after the first 10 minutes of play, UST center Bismarck Lina only scored 2 in the second half. Gunner Vince Dolendo also bled for points in the second half. 

UST is also the top fastbreaking team averaging averaging 18.5 a match. Ateneo held them to 4 points in their match up.

Ateneo retained its status as the top defensive team allowing only 55.6 points per game. That’s 17.4 points less than the second-ranked squad Adamson’s 73.0 points allowed.

It was a tough loss for UST that was looking to gain ground on NU after the Bullpups were docked a win for fielding an ineligible player in their first game of the season.

NU earlier came from behind to defeat FEU, 86-81. The Tamaraws folded down the stretch while the Bullpups thrived in the endgame.

In other UAAP Juniors matches, DLSZ crushed hapless UE (their lone win is due to the overturned loss to NU in the first round), 93-74. The Adamson Baby Falcons also hammered UPIS, 76-58, to close out the weekend matches.

Standings

Ateneo 8-0

NU 6-2

UST 5-3

FEU 4-4

Adamson 4-4

DLSZ 3-5

UPIS 1-7

UE 1-7