Ateneo booked the first ticket to the UAAP Season 82 Men's Basketball Tournament Final Four following a 77-69 victory over La Salle Sunday at SM Mall of Asia Arena.
Adrian Wong caught fire with 18 points on a 4-of-7 clip from downtown as the Blue Eagles rose to 10-0 for the season.
His explosion couldn't get any more timely as Ateneo swept its rival, while also extending its winning run to 20 straight games dating back to last season.
"If Adrian doesn’t come out hot, we would have been in trouble," said coach Tab Baldwin.
Thirdy Ravena chimed in 13 points and seven boards, Ange Kouame registered a double-double of 10 points, 14 boards, and three blocks, and Will Navarro got nine points and three rebounds for the Blue Eagles.
The Green Archers got to within six, 61-55, after a Justine Baltazar bucket with 7:13 left, but Ravena and Gian Mamuyac conspired in pulling away, scoring seven unanswered points to restore the 13-point advantage, 68-55, with 3:50 remaining.
Jamie Malonzo attempted to spark one last rally for La Salle, but Wong was just too cool from the stripe, burying three of his four charities in the final 23.5 seconds to ice the game for good.
Baltazar was limited to just 12 points and nine rebounds in the defeat after posting a 25-25 statline the last time out against NU.
Encho Serrano scattered 15 points, eight rebounds, and two steals to lead La Salle as it fell to a 4-5 record, on a tie with FEU for fourth place.
Meanwhile, in baseball, defending champion Ateneo and Nazareth School of National University took down their respective foes in the UAAP Season 82 Juniors Baseball Tournament to stay unbeaten heading into their finals rematch, Saturday at the Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium.
The batters of Ateneo heated up in the sixth inning to romp De La Salle-Zobel, 7-1.
Zach Pena popped a huge double that brought in two runs that sparked a four-run inning. It did not help that the Junior Green Batters had three errors in the inning that led to two more runs.
Pitcher Zachary Urbina was also steady on the mound, pitching a complete game that saw him fan nine batters. He allowed six hits.
"Mas maganda na manalo kami para petiks na kami sa next round. Tatlong lang kasi pitcher namin para puwede na sila mag-relax sa second round," said Ateneo assistant coach Pepe Jose.
Early in the day, National University sent a message to the Blue Eaglets, pounding University of Santo Tomas in a five-inning bloodbath, 15-3.
The Bullpups had 11 runs in the fourth inning that saw NU's rotation complete a cycle. Gio Gorpido, Kyle Ilagan, Nico Calanday, and Herald Lenorio pounced on UST pitchers John Regalado and Mark Gaspi during the game-breaking rally.
Regie Omana had three RBIs in the game while Lenorio and Gorpido had two.
"Very happy. It's kind of morale-boosting for us kasi we are facing the defending champions. Sila yung tumalo sa amin last year and we have been waiting to redeem ourselves from it," said NU head coach Egay delos Reyes.
"Remember last time, na-sweep namin sila nung elimination round pero na-sweep nila kami nung championship. Masakit pa rin sa amin yun. 'Yun 'yung preparation namin buong off-season, to get back at them."
Jerico Quilantang only pitched 2 1/3 innings in the game, allowing just one hit while striking out two Junior Golden Sox players.
