THE SECOND encounter proved to be just as one-sided as the first one as the Ateneo Blue Eagles moved a win away from achieving a sweep of the elimination round after they disposed of the National University (NU) Bulldogs, 61-39, in the 74th UAAP basketball tournament yesterday at the Araneta Coliseum.
The four-time champions Eagles are now just a victory away from gaining an outright seat in the finals, but will be hardpressed to complete the feat with the Adamson Soaring Falcons standing in their way.
Struggling to bust the Bulldogs’ zone all game, the defending champion turned to its defense and held NU to its lowest scoring output since the start of the archiving of statistics in the UAAP in 2003.
A telling third period exploit triggered by a 10-0 blast to conclude the first half gave the Blue Eagles their commanding advantage as they dropped 22 points compared to the Bulldogs’ eight in one just one quarter.
Mainstays Kirk Long and Nico Salva and newcomers Kiefer Ravena and Greg Slaughter took turns in the demolition job, churning out double-double scoring.
Salva, whose slam with 7:36 in the fourth quarter spiked the lead to 24 points, 55-31, produced a game-best 14 points even as Slaughter, Ravena and Long added 13, 12 and 10 markers respectively.
Long, who was tasked to contain NU Ray Parks’, held the hyped rookie to just 10 points on 3-of-14 shooting and forced him to commit five turnovers.
Parks and Emmanuel Mbe contributed 10 points each in a losing cause for NU. /Correspondent Jonas Panerio