Eagles rebound, clip Bulldogs

Manila, Philippines – The defending champions have too much pride to lose back-to-back.

The Ateneo Blue Eagles overcame a jittery start to get back in the winning track as they trounced the National University Bulldogs, 82-65, on Saturday in the UAAP Season 73 men’s basketball tournament at the Araneta Coliseum.

Ateneo, which was coming off a heartbreaking 63-66 loss to arch rival La Salle, started slow and allowed NU to vault to a 28-14 lead before getting their acts together.

The Eagles settled down and adjusted their defense while Eric Salamat hit 8 of his game-high 20 pts in the second period where the Eagles erased the huge deficit and came within 33-34 at the break.

The game tied for the first and the last time at 37-all at the onset of the third period before the Eagles seized control of the ballgame.

Salamat, Kirk Long and Art dela Cruz, Jr,.came up with big plays in the third period, giving Ateneo a 61-48 spread.

By the time Long made an undergoal stab in the 6:54 mark of the payoff period, the Bulldogs did not know what hit them and continued to play in disarray.

The Eagles took advantage and buried them deeper, 69-54.

“All we talked about was our defense (during halftime). We’re having trouble against them off the dribble so we adjusted our defense. I told the boys to just keep on shooting (against their zone) because those shots will fall eventually,” said Ateneo coach Norman Black, who has yet to lose consecutive games with the Eagles since the 2006 Finals against UST.

Salamat spiced up his best game of the season with 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals while Long came through with also a season-high 19 points built around his 4-of-4 three-point clip.

The defending champions improved to 3-2 tying idle UST in the team standings.

NU, which absorbed its third setback against 2 wins, drew 18 points from Kokoy Hermosisima while Cameroonian Emmanuel Mbe got away with 11 points and 12 rebounds with the bulk of his production came when the game was already beyond reach.

The Scores:

ADMU 82 – Salamat 20, Long 19, Salva 14, Dela Cruz 6, Golla 6, Tiongson 5, Monfort 5, Gonzaga 3, Escueta 2, Buenafe 2, Erram 0, Chua 0, Austria 0.

NU 65 – Hermosisima 18, Malanday 12, Mbe 11, Khobuntin 7, Terso 5, Magat 4, Javillonar 3, Ponferrada 3, Tungcul 2, Ludovice 0, Singh 0, Baloran 0.

Quarterscores: 11-17, 33-34, 61-48, 82-65.

Alder Almo, UAAP Sports