The Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles are back in the finals for the fifth season in a row after they crushed the Far Eastern University Tamaraws, 85-72, in the UAAP Season 84 Final Four on Wednesday at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
Coming off a downer defeat against the University of the Philippines to end its 39-game winning streak, the Blue Eagles vented their ire on the fourth-seeded Tamaraws to book their spot in the best-of-three finals, which starts this Sunday.
“We honestly put things behind us,” said Blue Eagles head coach Tab Baldwin. “We put it behind us because FEU is the only game that matters.”
Ateneo will await the winner of the University of the Philippines – De La Salle University matchup.
The Tamaraws were able to keep point-for-point in the first quarter, forcing the Blue Eagles to a 16-16 deadlock. But it was all Ateneo in the second frame as it drained six triples en route to scoring 33 points while holding FEU to 17 to build a 16-point cushion at halftime, 49-33.
That run was something the Tamaraws could not recover from with 13 the closest they could get multiple times in the fourth period.
BJ Andrade was hyper-efficient for the Blue Eagles with 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the field, good for 77.8 percent, to go with three rebounds.
SJ Belangel added 14 points on 14 shots, while Gian Mamuyac had 12 points after being scoreless in their previous games.
Dave Ildefonso did it all with 11 points, six rebounds, and five assists, while Ange Kouame flirted with a triple-double, dropping nine points, 18 rebounds, and eight assists to go along with five blocks.
RJ Abarrientos paced FEU with 16 points while Emman Ojuola was the double-double monster he is with 13 points and 14 rebounds.
