DEFENDING champion Ateneo delivered a definitive statement with a 50-point obliteration of University of Santo Tomas, 101-51, for its 10th straight victory in the UAAP Season 84 men's basketball tournament on Thursday at Mall of Asia Arena.
Already assured of a spot in the Final Four, the Blue Eagles showed that they're in no way falling to the traps of complacency as they got their 36th straight victory in definitive fashion.
Six players scored in double figures for Ateneo, with Raffy Verano delivering 18 points and seven boards.
SJ Belangel shot 5-of-8 from deep and finished with 16 points, five assists, and three rebounds.
Geo Chiu got 14 points and eight rebounds, and rookie Joshua Lazaro chimed in 12 points and seven rebounds.
Dave Ildefonso also did his share for the Blue Eagles with 11 points, seven boards, four assists, and one steal, as Ange Kouame got it going on the defensive end with his 10 points, nine rebounds, three assists, three blocks, and one steal.
Tab Baldwin's Blue Eagles extend the win streak to 10 this season and 36 straight overall.
Ateneo surged to a 20-4 start and only used that to further pound on the hapless UST, taking the 46-21 halftime lead that further grew to 53 points, 101-48, after a Forthsky Padrigao undergoal stab in the last 41 seconds of the game.
The 50-point blowout was the biggest margin of victory this season, and the biggest since the digitization of UAAP stats, as the Blue Eagles officially clinched their seventh straight Final Four appearance.
"I think that the difference in the score line is a reflection that in our coaching staff really asked for a 40-minute performance from our players. And that's been something that's plagued us a bit this year is we haven't given that 40-minute performance and today we came pretty close," said coach Tab Baldwin.
Ateneo assisted in 27 of its 38 shots, dominating the boards, 49 to 32, while also forcing its Espana counterparts to shoot only 28.6-percent from the field, including a paltry 2-of-25 clip from distance, and commit 20 turnovers.
Rookie Nic Cabanero was the lone player to score in double figures for UST with 18 points, four rebounds, and two steals.
Joshua Fontanilla was held to just eight points on 4-of-11 shooting, to go with seven boards and four assists but committed six turnovers in the game, while Sherwin Concepcion also missed all of his eight three-pointers for his five points in the loss.
The Growling Tigers suffered back-to-back defeats to sink to a 3-7 card.
The scores:
Ateneo 101 - Verano 18, Belangel 16, Chiu 14, Lazaro 12, Ildefonso 11, Kouame 10, Koon 9, Andrade 6, Padrigao 5, Mamuyac 0, Tio 0, Gomez 0, Daves 0.
UST 51 - Cabanero 18, Manaytay 9, Fontanilla 8, Manalang 7, Concepcion 5, Yongco 2, Santos 2, Ando 0, Herrera 0, Gomez de Liano 0, Garing 0, Mantua 0, Pangilinan 0.
Quarterscores: 22-8; 46-21; 80-36; 101-51.
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