Eaglets dominate Jr. Archers

MANILA, Philippines - Ateneo seized control early then hung tough in the stretch to trounce De La Salle-Zobel, 73-64, in the juniors division of the Filoil Flying V Pre-Season Invitational Cup at The Arena in San Juan late Saturday.

Kiefer Ravena frolicked in the opening period and fired 16 points as the Eaglets raced to a 26-12 lead and never looked back en route to the victory.

Ravena finished with 31 points while Von Pessumal backed him up with 18 points for the Eaglets, who stormed to leads of as many as 21 points.

The Eaglets sustained their run into the fourth quarter until the Junior Archers came up with a late at 59-69 on a triple by freshman Renzo Subido with three minutes left in the contest.

But the Loyola-based squad clamped down on defense to cut short the Junior Archers’ rally and cruise to the win in the tournament dubbed as the Badolato Cup.

“Our philosophy is to focus on our defense and we’ll just let our offense flow,” said Benitez.

Pessumal took over in the fourth period, scoring seven of his 18 points while the rest backed him up with a gritty defense that took the sting out of the Junior Archers.