Eagles rein in Bulldogs, near sweep

MANILA, Philippines - Defense-minded Ateneo made National University bleed for every point yesterday, romping off with a 61-39 rout to move just one win away from a rare 14-game sweep of the UAAP Season 74 eliminations.

“We’ll go for it now, no question,” said Ateneo coach Norman Black of the possible 14-0 record that would lead them straight into the finals armed with a thrice-to-beat incentive.

The Eagles will shoot for that historic win against second-running Adamson, considered the biggest threat to their four-peat drive, on Saturday.

“We’ll take a couple of days off and we’ll have one week to prepare for Adamson,” said Black, whose wards choked NU to 39 points – the lowest tally since the UAAP’s statistics were computerized in 2003.

University of Santo Tomas cranked up its defense in the second half, wiping out a 17-point deficit to stun the Falcons, 74-58, to improve to 7-5, 2-1/2 games ahead of No. 5 La Salle. The Falcons, apparently paying for looking past the Tigers, dropped to 9-4.

After falling behind, 25-42 in the second, the Tigers held the Falcons to a woeful 3-of-26 shooting in the final 20 minutes to turn the game around, 72-55. They earned their third straight win dedicated to Carmelo Afuang, out for three weeks due to gallbladder illness, and the 47th birthday of coach Pido Jarencio on Monday.

“We picked up our defensive efforts in the second half and shut down their shooters,”said Jarencio whose team limited AdU to 16 points in the second half, the second lowest since NU’s 13 in 2009.

With Kirk Long shutting down NU gunner Bobby Ray Parks Jr. to only 10 markers (3-of-14 FGs), the Eagles held NU to the lowest score since the Bulldogs themselves yielded a 40-60 loss to La Salle in 2004.

“That (defense) was the key to the game. We really came to play defensively and we played shutdown defense today,” said Black, whose team’s zone defense held NU to 16-of-58 shooting (27.6%).

“From top to bottom starting with Kirk Long, all the players played well defensively. We really couldn’t shoot straight today but I told the players to concentrate on defense and let the offense take care of itself,” he added.

Ateneo detonated a 10-0 bomb to seize a 26-19 lead at the end of the first, then held NU to eight markers in both the second and third periods to run away, putting NU (4-8) out of the playoffs.

Nico Salva (14), Greg Slaughter (13 points and 11 rebounds) and Kiefer Ravena (12 points, three steals) led the way for AdMU, which enjoyed a 57-33 upperhand.