Eagles rout Lions in duel of champions to enter PCCL Finals

MANILA, Philippines -- In a duel of the UAAP and NCAA champions, Ateneo De Manila University came out on top booking the last ticket in the Finals and its sixth straight appearance after pummeling San Beda College with a 66-49 victory in the Philippine Collegiate Champions League Final Four round at the Fil-Oil Flying V Arena in San Juan city today.

The Eagles employed their vaunted defense to rout the Red Lions limiting them to a lowly 28 percent shooting clip while toying with the defense of their opponent.

"The whole game we are nearly perfect with our defense, our rotation and discipline was great. Hats off to my players for playing hard and making sure we challenge all of their shots," said ADMU coach Gabby Severino.

Ateneo shackled San Beda in an unforgiving third quarter, starting with an 18-0 blast capped by a Kiefer Ravena layup on a fast break to extend their lead to 46-26 with 3:02 remaining and never looked back.

Kyle Pascual stopped the bleeding, converting on a jumper to score their first two points with 1:38 remaining in the third quarter, but San Beda dug themselves a grave too deep, managing only five points in the pivotal stretch of the match.

Baser Amer infused semblance of life to the Red Lions' cause with a personal 10-0 scoring run, bridging the close of the third and start of the fourth quarter to cut the lead down to 10, 38-48 with 7:35 remaining.

But the Eagles answered back with a 10-0 blast of their own to regain control and cruise to their second victory in the Final Four.

"We always play to win every game that is what we teach the kids also to try their best in everything that they do, so hopefully it carries over to our next game," Severino added.

Nico Salva topscored for the Blue Eagles with 16 points while Greg Slaughter and Juami Tiongson chipped in 11 points each for the Katipunan-based squad.

Amer paced the Red Lions with 15 markers while Jake Pascual added 10 points for the Red Lions.

San Beda played without Nigerian Import Ola Adeogun due to a knee injury, sustained in a PBA D-League game.

Ateneo set in stone a rematch with Final Four tormentor and UAAP rival UST with a best of three Finals series starting on Tuesday while San Beda College and South Western University will play a knockout battle for third place.