The Ateneo Blue Eagles on Wednesday, December 5, defeated the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons to clinch their second consecutive title in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) men’s basketball.
The Blue Eagles came out on top of the much-awaited Game 2 of the best-of-three finals series after beating the Fighting Maroons 99-81 at the historic Araneta Coliseum.
The Blue Eagles broke the game early in the game after securing a commanding 25-13 lead against the Fighting Maroons in the first quarter thanks to the effort of Ateneo’s rookie point guard SJ Belangel.
After the lead further stretched to 15 in the second quarter opener, the Fighting Maroons found a ray of light after Paul Desiderio and Juan Gomez de Liano rallied a 9-0 run to cut Ateneo’s lead to six, 28-22.
Despite this, the Fighting Maroons were not able to capitalize on the run and gave the Blue Eagles an opportunity to have their own run to return the lead to double digits and close the first half 48-37.
At the second half, the Blue Eagles never looked back with Ateneo star Thirdy Ravena hitting three three-pointers in the final quarter alone to finish the game with a career-high 38 points.
Newly crowned Rookie of the Year Angelo Kouame of Ateneo also helped the Blue Eagles with his double-double 22-point performance.
NOTE: Photo featured in the article was taken from Rappler.
