THE ATENEO Blue Eaglets weathered a furious fourth quarter rally by the UST Tiger Cubs en route to an 81-75 win in the UAAP Season 79 juniors’ basketball tournament at the Arena in San Juan Tuesday.
UST trailed by as much as 25 points midway through the final period. But an 18-2 run cut the lead to nine with 53.8 seconds left.
A two-pointer by Romulo Berjay with a little over 30 seconds remaining sealed the win for Ateneo.
“’Yung problem na naman natin, nag-collapse tayo sa defense. Ang bottom line natin, nawala ‘yung aggressiveness natin sa depensa which is flat,” said Tiger Cubs head coach Chris Cantonjos.
The Blue Eaglets recovered from a third quarter meltdown and erected a 66-46 lead going into the fourth period.
Dave Ildefonso led Ateneo with 17 points and eight boards, while Berjay and SJ Belangel chipped in 15 apiece.
CJ Cansino scattered 19 points and nine rebounds for the Tiger Cubs, who shot just 25-for-74 from the field.
UST (2-7) will try to bounce back against the University of the Philippines Junior Maroons on Saturday, Jan. 21, 3 p.m., at the same venue.
