Ateneo de Manila University built a big lead early, kept it three-fourths of the way, then weathered a furious University of the Philippines comeback to score a 75-68 victory and claim its 12th crown in the 85th University Athletic Association of the Philippines men’s basketball championship at the Araneta Coliseum on Monday night.
The Blue Eagles, through BJ Andrade, sank the deciding free throws in the dying seconds to quash a UP mutiny that ran out of time in front of a raucous Big Dome crowd of 21,814.
Ateneo thus dethroned the Fighting Maroons and reclaimed the UAAP title it had won in the past three seasons before.
To set up their fourth title in five seasons, the Eagles started strong and led by as much as 30-12 in the first quarter, before padding it to as much as 52-32, with 9:05 ticks left in the third.
But the Maroons simply would not yield, unleashing an 18-4 run highlighted by a James Spencer trey to come to within 56-50 with 3:01 left in the third.
UP’s assault continued in the fourth, as a split free throw and a quick triple from Harley Alarcon in the final 20.1 seconds allowed them to stay within range, 70-67, before Andrade came through with his freebies to move Ateneo to safer ground with 12.3 seconds left.
Andrade added more free throws for Ateneo’s final tally.
Injured UP star Zavier Lucero was allowed to score a technical free throw for the final count, owing to the Ateneo bench prematurely storming the court in celebration with still 0.7 seconds left in the game.
Lucero, who suffered a partial ACL tear on his left knee during the fourth quarter of Game 2 the Maroons lost last Wednesday, was not allowed to play in the decider.
Teammates dedicated the game to him and wore maroon shirts with his nickname, Zav, on it.
Angelo Kouame tallied a game-high 19 points for the Blue Eagles, who won Game 2, 65-56, after the Maroons took the opener, 72-66.
Rence Padrigao and Gab Gomez provided 12 points each for Ateneo.
Spencer shot a game-high 14 points for UP, which missed out in its goal of a back-to-back championship.
“They (Maroons) never quit ever. We never expected them to quit. My words are insufficient compared to their performance,” said Blue Eagles coach Tab Baldwin.
“I think I could probably speak all day about the UP program and the UP faithful. You have an amazing team, (and) you have a phenomenal coach and coaching staff. They don’t quit ever. We know we never expected them to quit,” said Baldwin.
The Scores:
ATENEO 75—Kouame 19, Padrigao 12, Gomez 12, Andrade 10, Ballungay 4, Koon 4, Daves 4, Chiu 4, Quitevis 4, Ildefonso 2, Lazaro 0.
UP 68—Spencer 14, Alarcon 12, Galinato 12, Tamayo 11, Cagulangan 9, Diouf 7, Gonzales 2, Lucero 1, Abadiano 0, Fortea 0, Lina 0.
Quarters: 30-14, 47-32, 60-52, 75-68.