The Ateneo cagers bucked the 17-point explosion of Henri Lorenzo Subido and shackled Duno DR Ciruela and John Benedict Bustamante in the first two quarters to seize control before cruising to the victory that netted them the title in the 8-10 years old category.
Anton Asistio and Mark Gamboa keyed Ateneo’s first quarter splurge with the former scoring on drives and the latter dominating the shaded lane to outscore the LSM pair of Subido and Ciruela.
Asistio scored all his eight points in the first quarter while Gamboa tossed in seven although the Ateneo duo was outscored by the talented Subido, who had nine, as Ateneo took a 19-10 lead to set the tone for the win.
Jeo Consunji then took over for Ateneo in the second period and tossed in six points as Bustamante failed to solve the trapping defense of Matthew Nieto and Consunji and struggled for only two points.
Ateneo, behind MVP Michael Jay Javelosa, then thwarted every LSM fightback in the second half to coast to victory.
Despite the loss, its first after sweeping the elims all the way to the semis, LSM proved its worth on a team built around Subido, Bustamante and diminutive but talented Lawrence Lopez, and the gutsy bunch of Miguel Gerard Dungo, Jethro Angelo Chua, Nicholai Badua and Ciruela.
Meanwhile, Javelosa was named the league’s overall MVP while Subido, Matthew Nieto and Jolo Mendoza took the top plums among the 10-, 9- and 8-year-olds, respectively.