The Blue Eagles started like a house on fire, drawing great performances from the Ateneo bench.
The FEU Tamaraws never knew what hit them. The Tamaraws found themselves trailing the back-to-back defending champions in double digits for majority of the game.
Ateneo led 42-21 at halftime.
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| Kirk Long |
Kirk Long was adjudged the game’s best player, making 14 points and grabbing five rebounds.
Game 2 will be on Thursday with Ateneo getting the chance to sweep the Tamaraws and achieve a rare three-peat.
*UPDATE:
MANILA, Philippines (2nd UPDATE) – The Ateneo de Manila University (AdMU) Blue Eagles showed championship experience in Game 1 of the UAAP men's basketball finals and beat the Far Eastern University (FEU) Tamaraws by 23 points, 72-49, on Saturday at the Big Dome.
The defending champions won the game with strong defense, fast-break plays, and good execution of their offensive plays against the Tamaraws.
The Blue Eagles took an 18-point lead in the first quarter, 26-8, and never looked back.
The Tamaraws shot better in the 2nd quarter, but the Blue Eagles kept up their stingy defense and running game to extend their first half lead to 21 points at the half, 42-21.
ABS-CBN's TJ Manotoc said it was 49% shooting by the Blue Eagles in the first half compared to only 22% for the Tamaraws.
It appeared to be a close game at the start when FEU’s JR Cawaling answered Ateneo’s Ryan Buenafe first 2 points.
But after the 2-all start, Ateneo launched a scorching 24-6 run against FEU, many with fast-break points coming off defensive rebounds and misses by the Tamaraws.
The Tamaraws struggled to recover, but the Eagles continued their tight guarding and piling up of points courtesy of their fast-paced offense.
The Blue Eagles had 15 fast-break points for the game.
FEU coach Glenn Capacio tried to get his boys to slow down the game, but poor shooting by the Tamaraws allowed the Blue Eagles to increase their lead in the 2nd and 3rd quarters.
FEU scored 13 points in the 2nd quarter and 17 points in the 3rd against Ateneo's 16 in the third and 18 in the fourth.
Kirk Long led the Blue Eagles with 14 points on 4-of-4 field goal shooting. He also brought down 5 rebounds.
Providing additional spark for Ateneo were spitfire Emman Monfort, big man Justin Chua, and Bacon Austria.
Rebounding, good defense
Ateneo coach Norman Black said he did not expect it would be a easy victory. "You never go into a game thinking you're going to win by a big margin," he said in the post-game interview with TJ Manotoc.
He cited their rebounding effort as the key factor against the big men of FEU.
"We did know that we prepared well for this game....If we wanted to win against FEU, we had to do a good job on our defensive rebounds because they are a very good offensive rebounding team," said Black.
He added that they also struck down the Tamaraws' outside shooters with "good perimeter defense."
Asked about Ateneo's 15 fast-break points compared to 0 for FEU, Black said: "I learned that a few years ago, TJ, that if my team pushed the ball at every opportunity, it really takes away pressure defense.....We want to run on every opportunity, we need to make our fast-break points, it's really been our game plan for the last 3 or 4 years now."
Game 2 of the best of 3 finals is on Thursday (Sept. 30).
Black said they "can't get too excited," and he expects FEU to bounce back in game 2.
Starters for FEU were Cawaling, Reil Cervantes, Pipo Noundou, Terrence Romeo and RR Garcia.
Ateneo's starting five were Buenafe, Frank Golla, Kirk Long, Justin Chua and Emman Monfort.
Special awards were handed out before the game.
Monfort was chosen as the league’s Most Improved Player of the Year.
Reyes was chosen as Jollibee Champ of the Season and PS Bank Maaasahan Player of the Year
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