Ateneo tramples UST in UAAP Finals opening game

By: Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

Despite the two-week hiatus, the mighty Ateneo Blue Eagles squad showed no signs of rust.

It was business as usual as the undefeated defending champions played even more inspired basketball, crushing the UST Growling Tigers in game 1 of the UAAP Season 82 Men’s Basketball, 91-77.

The motion offense of Ateneo went more fluid and more unpredictable as the Tab Baldwin-led squad shocked UST with faster ball movement and flawless executions in their half-court sets.

Ateneo’s offense was deadly as all five guys moved pretty well without the ball, resulting in numerous open looks from a broken UST defense that was kept guessing all night.

Reigning Finals MVP Thirdy Ravena exploded for 32 big points that propelled his team to a contagious scoring avalanche with only four players not scoring.

The main man in the block for Ateneo, Ange Kouame, outdueled the reigning UAAP MVP Soulemane Chabi Yo of UST, outscoring him by 5 points and boxed him out of the block pretty well the entire game.

Rookie of the year Mark Nonoy erupted for a career-high 26 points, including a scintillating display of scoring in the second half where he scored 18.

Ateneo is one win away from punching their way to the history books as one of the few teams to grand slam in the UAAP.