MATT Nieto’s two charities and Thirdy Ravena’s defense on Ben Mbala in the closing seconds helped the Ateneo Blue Eagles escape with a 76-75 win over the defending champion La Salle Green Archers in the Universities Athletic Association of the Philippines Men’s Basketball Tournament at the Mall of Asia Arena on Sunday.
Nieto canned in two charities with 3.9 seconds left to give the Blue Eagles a one-point edge.
With a paying crowd of 14,717 watching, Ravena then delayed Mbala from scoring on a drive that fell short of the basket as time expired.
Nieto shot 16 points for the Blue Eagles, who swept the first round at 7-0, while Ricci Rivero unloaded 19 points for the Green Archers, who found themselves sharing second with the Adamson Falcons in second at 5-2.
“We were asking for better defense from the guys. We weren’t too happy with our defense. And they followed the defensive scheme that we wanted to do in the last three minutes,” said Blue Eagles coach Sandy Arespacochaga.
Meanwhile, Matt Salem’s triple in the last 45 seconds helped propel the National University Bulldogs to a 77-70 victory over the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons.
The 6’3” power forward, who was averaging six points after six games, connected off Adven Diputado’s pass and the Bulldogs went on to finish the first round with three wins in seven games.
“It’s no secret. Matt has been struggling. But scoring wise and defensively, he’s average. But I told him that for us to really make a good push this season, he needs to overachieve,” said Bulldogs’ coach Jamike Jarin.
Salem responded in a big way as he banged in 21 points, his trey allowing the Bulldogs to move away, 75-70.
The Maroons, who have the same record with the Bulldogs, last stayed close at 70-all on Ibrahim Outtara’s layup off Issa Gaye with 1:34 left.
Then, the Bulldogs broke the tie with JayJay Alejandro’s layup past Paul Desiderio, with 1:17 remaining.
Playing without injured point guard Jun Manzo for most of the second half, the Maroons turned the ball twice in the remaining time, allowing NU to grab a seven-point edge at the end of the game.
Manzo left the court with 7:55 to go with a sprained right ankle in the third after he made a bad landing following an awkwardly executed driving attempt past Alejandro. Gaye stepped on his foot as soon as he went down on the floor.
Desidero and Diego Dario showed the way for UP with 15 and 11 points, respectively.
Manzo is expected to play again by Wednesday.
Games Wednesday
(at the Araneta Coliseum)
2 p.m. Adamson vs UE
4 p.m. UP vs La Salle