AFTER enduring its worst losing streak in 10 years, Ateneo held its ground in the face of a late University of Santo Tomas comeback to keep its Final Four bid afloat while ending the Tigers' own playoff hopes.
But for Ateneo's current leading scorer Kai Ballungay, who dropped 15 points and 14 boards in the win, the Blue Eagles never doubted themselves even in the middle of the three-game losing slump.
READ: Kai Ballungay double-double helps Ateneo rekindle Final Four bid
"Despite everything that's happened, I think our focus as a team is to stay together. At this point moving forward, we can only control what we can control," Ballungay said after the 67-59 win over the Tigers.
"One of those things, like Coach (Tab Baldwin) said this week, was accountability. Everyone has their job and if everyone does their job, we'll get the W," he added.
After surviving the Tigers' last-gasp fightback, Ballungay emphasized how Ateneo held on to the mindset of never underestimating any team by any means.
"You can't take UST for granted. I feel like going into this game, we knew that they're a threat despite what the record shows," he said.
Neither was he worried about Ateneo's horrendous shooting against the UST zone defense, which saw the Blue Eagles make just 38.7 percent (12-of-31) from two-point distance and 20.5% (9-of-44) from beyond the arc.
Overall, Ateneo made just 28 percent of its shots (21-of-75).
"They did a job on us on making that zone [defense], making us shoot that ball, and struggling there a bit, but they were the right shots and we know that it's gonna fall in the future," said Ballungay.
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