Mighty Eagles claw Falcons

The Ateneo Blue Eagles started their campaign in Round 2 of the UAAP eliminations the same way they closed out their stint in the first round — pound and pummel the Adamson Falcons.

The Eagles picked up from where they left off in their previous meeting two weeks ago, repeating with an easy 71-58 victory at home turf at the Blue Eagle gym in Quezon City.

Ateneo firmed up its hold of third place with a fifth straight win and sixth in eight games overall while Adamson slid to joint sixth place with Santo Tomas on identical 2-7 win-loss slates.

The Eagles still proved too much for the Falcons despite losing for the rest of the season sixth man Clifford Arao, who suffered an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in practice.

Coach Norman Black’s chargers got off to a jackrabbit start, took the half at 40-22 and sustained their romp in the final 20 minutes of the game.

LA Tenorio scored on a lay-up to start the second half as the Eagles had their biggest lead at 42-22.

Earlier, University of the Philippines survived a big scare by National University on sophomore point guard Marvin Cruz’ endgame exploits to move within just half-game of the fourth-running La Salle squad. Cruz did practically everything for UP in the homestretch as the Maroons overcame the Bulldogs’ tough stand, scoring a 72-67 decision that raised their record to 5-4.

The 5-foot-9 playmaker had a hand on all UP’s four crucial plays in the last two minutes, dishing out an assist, pumping in back-to-back baskets and collaring a rebound as the Maroons denied the Bulldogs what could have been their first victory in the season. Cruz finished with a near triple-double job with 21 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists.

But UP coach Lito Vergara was far from happy with the game they played. "We’re relaxing. Pwede naman palang ilaro iyong game na ipinakita nila sa fourth quarter, eh bakit hindi inilaro kaagad," rued Vergara. NU put UP on pins and needles in the contest as the Bulldogs even enjoyed the lead at 67-66 entering the last two minutes of play. The Bulldogs eventually lost the game on poor shot selection in the closing minute.