By Joey Villar (The Philippine Star)
MANILA, Philippines – Reigning back-to-back champion Ateneo used a sleek running game to neutralize National U’s size advantage and hammer out an 82-65 victory in the 73rd UAAP basketball tournament at the Araneta Coliseum yesterday.
Eric Salamat fired a team-high 20 points while American Kirk Long made all four three-point attempts and finished with 19 points as Ateneo eased the pain of a 63-66 loss to archrival La Salle last week.
The Loyola-based cagers overcame a 14-point deficit in the second quarter as they shifted to zone defense and quickened the pace on the other end to dominate the second half.
“At halftime, we basically talked about defense. We decided to play zone because we had problems containing them off the dribble,” said Ateneo coach Norman Black.
“We also talked about our shooting. We couldn’t shoot straight so I told the players to hang in there. They shoot well in practice and I thought their shots would fall in time. Luckily in the second half, we were able to knock down our three-point shots,” Black also said.
The win sent the Eagles to joint third place with the Archers and the Santo Tomas Tigers at 3-2.
Earlier, Paul Lee poured in 10 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter as University of the East upended State U, 59-54, to finally barge into the win column.
Lee, a member of last year’s First Mythical Team, himself clinched the win as he converted the last of his three triples with 6.7 seconds to go.
“Hopefully, this win sparks a run,” said UE mentor Lawrence Chongson, who was re-joined on the bench by assistant Rey Vaena.
The Maroons sorely missed the injury-stricken Woody Co as they suffered a fifth loss in a row.
Mike Silungan paced the Maroons with 20 points.
The Bulldogs came into game the league’s best defensive team, allowing opponents to an average of only 62.5 points a game.
With a tough defensive job working, the Bulldogs took control in the early goings, taking a 28-14 spread in the second period.
The Eagles, however, solved the problem by the second half.
“We just took our chance because if you look at the stats, we’re No. 7 in perimeter points, they’re No. 8, so you just play the percentages that they may not make their outside shots because they’re shooting the ball as poorly as we are. It’s just a strategy to go into the zone,” said Black.
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