By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
The Ateneo Blue Eagles continued its dominant run in the ongoing 2022 UAAP men’s seniors’ basketball after demolishing the Adamson Soaring Falcons, 78-47, and nabbed their third-straight win of the tournament.
The Blue Eagles continued their hot start to the season since their emphatic debut win against the deeply talented UP Fighting Maroons team during the highlight game of UAAP’s opening game day and later on took down the surging FEU Tamaraws in their second game.
From the get-go, coach Tab Baldwin’s boys just put on the work and ripped the Adamson defense apart with their motion offense where everyone just kept moving and finding their spots.
Ange Kouame led the Blue Eagles’ attack and was all over the place, finishing with another double-double performance of 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Aside from their usual starters delivering for the team offensively, the second and third stringers also came out to play as 14 Ateneo players managed to convert a basket.
“We don’t think of our team as starters and bench. We just think everybody has a job to do. Today, we were able to get everybody on the court, which we need to do. I think the energy was really good out there,” said coach Baldwin.
After establishing a commanding pace in the first quarter, the Soaring Falcons regained momentum after their 15-0 burst which cut the lead to just eight, 36-28.
However, Ateneo remained unfazed and was able to execute a 16-0 counter run that put them back ahead with a respectable 52-28 margin.
Backstopping Kouame in the scoring department are Tyler Tio and Chris Koon who had nine points apiece while the trio of Forthsky Padrigao, Raffy Verano, and Gab Gomez chipped in eight points each.
