Blue Eagles rout Bulldogs, stand solo second in the standings

The Ateneo de Manila Blue Eagles bagged their second win in UAAP Season 81 with a big victory over the National University Bulldogs, 72-46, Saturday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The Katipunan-based squad relied on their defense, limiting NU to convert only 27.69% (18/65) of the Bulldogs' field goal attempts, with 53 overall boards against NU's 42. Ateneo also made 15 assists and seven assists overall.

JUST IN: The Ateneo Blue Eagles win big over the NU Bulldogs, 72-46 @gmanews pic.twitter.com/wzQdNAxbT1

— JK Carandang (@jk_carandang) September 22, 2018

"I thought our defense was the way we want it to be played. Never any excuse not to play it that way now. Now we have something to live up to," said Ateneo head coach Tab Baldwin. "NU is not that easy to beat. They battle every possession, they play hard, they make adjustments, they do a lot of different things defensively."

The defending champs roared past the Bulldogs during the second period and never looked back, making 22 points against NU's nine, the score 33-18 to end the first half. The blue-and-whites made 16 points against NU's 12 during the third period, and continued to dominate against the boys from Sampaloc, 23 markers over 16.

Thirdy Ravena led the Eagles in scoring with 13 points. "It was a good win by the team, better than the past two games. I think that's because we worked together. We just did our jobs and we owe it all to the coaching staff for the preparation," he said.

Kakou Kouame, meanwhile, led the blue-and-white team in rebounds with 12.

Officiating

Despite the win, Baldwin said he was upset with the way the game was officiated. "It annoys me when referees ‘referee’ to the score. It's clear that they refereed to the score today. That's inappropriate, that's not good for the game," Baldwin said without citing specific instances.

"It's not in the spirit of the game. I sure like to know why they do that. I would like to know why the foul count skews considerably when you have a big lead, I'd like to know why players are allowed to push off when they're denying them the basketball full court throughout the game and then they warn us for flopping. I'd like to know what is the rationale in the referee's mind to change the way they referee because the score changes. That's a question that somebody should answer," he added.

"[They] should referee the possession on the merits of the possession and nothing else. If there's any other agendas working in the referee's mind, it's inappropriate. It annoys the hell out of me. Obviously, I'm sitting here that I should be happy but I'm pissed off," Baldwin noted.

The Blue Eagles will next face the UE Red Warriors on Wednesday. "I don't expect anything from them other than their best game," Baldwin said.

The NU Bulldogs, meanwhile, will try to bounce back next week when they face the Adamson Soaring Falcons.

Ateneo is now at solo second of the standings with a 2-1 record while NU has a win and two losses.

Scores:

Ateneo (72): Ravena - 13, Asistio - 9, Nieto, Mi. - 7, Wong - 7, Black - 6, Go - 6, Verano - 6, Belangel - 5, Kouame - 5, Andrade - 3, Daves - 2, Nieto, Ma. - 2, Mamuyac - 1.

NU (46): Joson - 11, Tibayan - 8, Clemente - 7, Gallego - 6, Ildefonso, D - 4, Ildefonso, S - 4, Galinato - 2, Malonzo - 2, Rike - 2.

— DVM, GMA News