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Ateneo scores dominating win over UST for second-round sweep

From start to finish, the defending champions showed no mercy for the opposition.

The Ateneo Blue Eagles completed a second-round sweep with a 102-62 romp over the UST Growling Tigers Wednesday at Mall of Asia Arena.

Angelo Koaume put up 22 points and 10 rebounds in just 13 minutes of play. Will Navarro provided his team with instant offense off the bench with 17 points on a perfect 7-for-7 shooting clip. Ateneo maximized the depth of its roster in the lopsided contest with all 16 players seeing action.

Ateneo decisively won the game even as coach Tab Baldwin was unavailable and resting after undergoing medical tests.

"One of the things we told the players was his system was already in place," coach Sandy Arespacochaga said about Baldwin's absence. "We wanted the players to step up. This time around, the next man up was everyone else as the shoe we were trying to fill was coach Tab."

The Blue Eagles were in playoff form right from the get-go, scoring 16 straight points while shutting out the Tigers. The score as 34-13 after the first ten minutes of play.

"Our players were serious and we wanted to make sure that we were serious from the start as UST is a dangerous team. We didn't want to take a step back or relax. That's our sentiments today," Arespacochaga said.

With everyone from their lineup contributing, the Blue Eagles held a lead as high as 44 points in a show of force on the lowly Tigers. They shot 45 percent from the field and scored 30 points off of UST's 25 turnovers.

Renzo Subido had 18 points while Toby Agustin chipped in with 15 points and nine rebounds for UST. The Tigers also missed the services of rookie sensation CJ Cansino who suffered a season-ending ACL injury. The Aldin Ayo-mentored team finishes the season with a 6-9 record.

Ateneo, meanwhile, has won its last seven outings and end the elimination round as the number one seed with a 12-2 record.

THE SCORES

ATENEO 102 - Kouame 22, Navarro 17, Mendoza 9, Andrade 9, Go 8, Ravena 6, Asistio 6, Nieto Ma 5, Nieto Mi 5, Black 4, Verano 4, Daves 4, Belangel 3, Wong 0, Tio 0, Mamuyac 0

UST 62 - Subido 18, Agustin 15, Marcos 13, Mahinay 6, Huang 4, Lee 2, Ando 2, Cosejo 2, Bataller 0, Zamora 0, Bonleon 0, Caunan 0

QUARTER SCORES: 34-13, 58-31, 83-42, 102-62

EXTRA DRIBBLES

-- The 102 points scored by Ateneo on Wednesday tied the most number of points by an Ateneo team coached by Tab Baldwin. On November 4, 2017, Ateneo won 102-83 over UST.

-- Ateneo's BJ Andrade had a career-high nine points in the win. He only scored a total of eight points the entire season prior to the game.

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