ANGELO Kouame was head and shoulders above everyone as he powered Ateneo to a breezy 85-53 over University of Santo Tomas in the UAAP Season 81 on Saturday at the Filoil Flying V Arena.
Not even 'mayhem' was enough to stop the 6-foot-11 reinforcement from Ivory Coast from having a near-perfect night as he scored 20 points on 8-of-9 shooting from the field which he padded with 14 rebounds and five blocked shots.
Kouame was at the forefront of the second quarter assault for the Blue Eagles, doing it on both ends of the court as he changed shots left and right to set the tone for the blowout victory.
The win allowed Ateneo to get its fourth straight win after an opening game blunder against Adamson.
"It was a very good effort for our team. It's really important for our bigs to step up with Raffy (Verano) out. Chew (Daves) and William (Navarro) had big shoes to fill Of course, Isaac Go and Angelo Kouame did their roles as well. They were able to get rebounds against an aggressive UST team," said Ateneo assistant Sandy Arespacochaga.
"With the pressure defense UST is known for, it was important for our guards to break it. SJ (Belangel) and Tyler (Tio) stepped up as well," he added
Thirdy Ravena added 11 points as Isaac Go had eight points and 11 boards in the win where they led by as many as 36 points near the end of the game.
Renzo Subido had 19 points while rookie CJ Cansino continued to impress as he finished with 15 points and 10 boards in the loss which dropped them to 1-3.
The 32 point loss was the worst in Aldin Ayo's career in the NCAA or in the UAAP. The last time Ayo lost this big was in his first year with La Salle when they lost to Ateneo 83-71.
The scores:
ATENEO 85 – Kouame 20, Ravena 11, Go 8, Asistio 8, Belangel 7, Nieto Mi 6, Nieto Ma 5, Daves 4, Tio 4, Wong 3, Andrade 3, Navarro 2, Black 2, Mamuyac 2, Mendoza 0
UST 53 – Subido 19, Cansino 15, Akomo 9, Huang 6, Lee 2, Mahinay 2, Cosejo 0, Marcos 0, Zamora 0, Bataller 0, Lagumen 0, Agustin 0
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