Eagles spring back, swoop on Maroons

MANILA, Philippines – Ateneo rebounded from its numbing loss last time, venting its ire on skidding University of the Philippines, 56-43, to pick up its fourth win in six outings in the UAAP Season 78 men’s basketball tourney at the MOA Arena on Wednesday.

Learning their lessons from their fourth-quarter meltdown in a 58-68 loss to Santo Tomas last week, the Blue Eagles played high intensity for the entire 40 minutes to regain their winning ways. The Maroons fell to their fourth consecutive setback for 2-4 overall.

“This is a good bounce-back win for us,” said AdMU coach Bo Perasol, whose squad also extended its streak against UP to 12 games since 2009.

AdMU did a better job at finishing this time, not allowing a repeat of the UST game where they were outscored 26-6 in the payoff period. The Eagles punched in 11 against UP’s 12 in the fourth.

“We talked about how we can close out games. Most of the time we start well but it’s a matter of how we’re going to close it out. It’s also important that Von (Pessumal) and Kiefer (Ravena) got their shots when the rally was going on,” Perasol said. “This is a good bounce-back win for us,

Ravena fired seven of his 11 points in the fourth to share scoring honors with Pessumal. Ravena also grabbed 11 boards plus four assists and two steals. John Apacible and Arvin Tolentino came off the bench to chip in eight apiece. Overall, AdMU’s support crew contributed 26 to help ease the load on Ravena and Pessumal

“That’s really the challenge for us this season – how we can get the bench to produce for us. We can always start good with Von and Kiefer and all our bigs but what’s important is those coming off the bench so if we can get production from the bench, that can help us a lot,” said Perasol.

The Eagles held the Maroons to nine in the first and eight in the second to set the tone for the victory.

Paul Desiderio led UP with 12 markers and eight rebounds. Jett Manuel as held scoreless.

The Scores

AdMU 56 – Pessumal 11, Ravena 11, Apacible 8, A.Tolentino 8, Gotladera 4, Ma. Nieto 4, Pingoy 3, Capacio 2, Wong 2, Black 1, Ikeh 1, M. Tolentino 1, Babilonia 0, Cani 0.

UP 43 – Desiderio 12, Moralde 9, Prado 8, Amar 6, Asilum 5, Dario 2, Kone 1, Gallarza 0, Harris 0, Jaboneta 0, Lim 0, Longa 0, Manuel 0, Vito 0.

Quarterscores: 17-9, 36-17, 45-31, 56-43.