Blue Eagles repel Maroons, regain UAAP crown

MANILA, Philippines (Updated 9:23 p.m.) — Redemption is complete for the Ateneo Blue Eagles.

Weathering a late storm by the UP Fighting Maroons, the Blue Eagles regained the UAAP men's basketball crown after beating UP, 75-68, in the winner-take-all UAAP Season 85 finals Game Three at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Monday.

After trailing by as much as 20, UP got themselves within three points, 67-70, with 20.1 ticks left as Harold Alarcon converted on a contested triple.

But graduating guard BJ Andrade showed nerves of steel on the foul line when UP played the foul game and sent him to the charity stripe with 12.3 remaining.

Andrade netted both free throws to push Ateneo's lead back to a two-possession advantage.

It finally proved insurmountable for the Fighting Maroons, who were unable to overcome the deficit in the wire-to-wire loss.

A consolation moment for UP, though, was the injured Zavier Lucero scoring on a technical free throw as a result of Ateneo prematurely storming onto the court as there was still 0.7 left in the game.

He was deemed out for the winner-take-all contest due to an ACL tear.

Andrade added two more freebies after a UP foul to reach the final score.

After the tough victory, Blue Eagles head coach praised their foes for the exciting series.

"I think I could probably speak all day about the UP program and the UP faithful. You have an amazing team, you have a phenomenal coach and coaching staff. They don’t quit ever. We know we never expected them to quit," said Baldwin.

"My words will always be insufficient about their performance. They were unbelievable. It’s been a wonderful competition and we’re really blessed to win it this time," he added.

A strong start by Ateneo, fueled by point guard Forthsky Padrigao, saw the Blue Eagles lead by as much as 18 points in the first salvo, 30-12.

The lead ballooned to 20 points after a Sean Quitevis layup, 52-32, with 9:05 ticks left in the third salvo.

It was a 18-4 run punctuated by a James Spencer triple to get UP within 56-50 with 3:01 left in the third that rejuvenated the Fighting Maroons' challenge.

Ange Kouame came up big for Ateneo as finished with 19 points, 12 boards and four blocks to pace the Blue Eagles in the victory.

Kouame had some clutch plays in the endgame as he converted on an and-one opportunity and blocked Carl Tamayo in the next possession to push Ateneo's lead to eight, 70-62, with 1:48 left in the ball game.

Padrigao added 12 points, three boards, three assists and two steals.

Spencer paced UP in the losing effort with 14 points, two boards and one assist. Alarcon, who finished +13, added 12 markers.

The UAAP thus has two different champions for 2022 — UP and Ateneo in Season 84 and Season 85, respectively.

The scores:

ATENEO 75 -- Kouame 19, Padrigao 12, Gomez 12, Andrade 10, Ballungay 4, Koon 4, Daves 4, Chiu 4, Quitevis 4, Ildefonso 2, Lazaro 0.

UP 68 -- Spencer 14, Alarcon 12, Galinato 12, Tamayo 11, Cagulangan 9, Diouf 7, Gonzales 2, Lucero 1, Abadiano 0, Fortea 0, Lina 0.

Quarters: 30-14, 47-32, 60-52, 75-68.