Ateneo makes UST latest victim in FilOil Premier Cup

source: gma

Ateneo made University of Santo Tomas its latest victim, 59-46, to continue with its sizzling run in the FilOil Flying V Hanes Preseason Premier Cup on Saturday at The Arena in San Juan City.

The Blue Eagles won even without the guidance of coach Norman Black, who was in Puerto Princesa City in Palawan as team consultant of the Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters in their PBA Commissioner's Cup best-of-seven finals series against Barangay Ginebra.

Ateneo broke out of a tight first half by limiting UST to just four points in the third quarter.

The Blue Eagles even led by as much 15 points, the last at 50-35 with over seven minutes left in the final canto.

Ateneo (3-0) joined idle National University on top of Group A.

"I think we didn't do anything different and we're very happy with our defense," said assistant coach Sandy Arespacochaga.

Kirk Long, Tonito Gonzaga and rookie phenom Kiefer Ravena shared top-scoring honors with 10 points each while Pilipinas-Smart Gilas member Greg Slaughter had six markers and grabbed 13 rebounds.

UST, which dropped to 2-2, got 14 and 10 points from guards Clark Bautista and 10 from fellow guard Jeric Fortuna.

The Tigers had an atrocious shooting from the field, 17-of-84, and were held to just a 20 percent clip.

Emilio Aguinaldo College and University of the East also played miserably in their own match, but the Generals still managed to pull-off a 49-46 victory.

EAC's Claude Cubo was the lone double-digit scorer in the game with 11 points, helping his team enter the win column.

The Generals of coach Gerry Esplana shot 30 percent from the floor, while the Red Warriors had a 29 percent clip with no player scoring in double digits.

In the other game, Jose Rizal University earned its first win in the tournament after a 70-65 triumph over Letran.

Jeckster Apinan, who came off the bench, scored 10 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in 26 minutes of action to help the Heavy Bombers send the Knights down to 1-2. Alex Almario also had 10 markers for JRU.

source: gma