By Jun Ray Navarres
Rookie Jared Brown lifted Ateneo de Manila University past valiant University of the East, 76-69 to return to winning column of the UAAP Men’s Basketball Tournament, Wednesday afternoon at the MOA Arena.
Brown earned his right for the trust given by head coach Tab Baldwin, scoring back-to-back threes to extend Ateneo’s lead, 74-69 with only 1:56 ticks left.
Chris Koon then sank both of his two free throws and made the interception on UE’s inbound play to secure the final nail in the coffin.
Ateneo’s defensive effort left the Red Warriors scoreless during the last three minutes of the game.
“It was not pretty but wins are what we need. I thought our first half we didn’t play good defense and I think it was an individual letdown – just the intensity wasn’t there,” said Baldwin at the post-game presser.
“Third quarter wasn’t much better, but the fourth quarter was. We really dug down deep and defended much more intelligently.”
UE outran the Blue Eagles 12-4 while also dominating the paint scoring 32-18 but the latter’s starter scoring created a huge gap against the former.
Kai Ballungay guided the defending champions with 18 points and 11 rebounds together with five assists while foreign student athlete Joseph Obasa contributed 16 points, eight rebounds, and six blocks.
On the other side, Precious Momowei’s double-double effort of 12 points and 10 rebounds were wasted after fouling out of the game. Ethan Galang and Wello Lingolingo also chipped in 12 points each.
Also, UE star guard Rey Remogat struggled shooting from the field, making 4 out of 15 in a nine-point performance.
UE hopes to recover against Adamson while Ateneo craves to better 2-2 standing against winless Far Eastern University on Saturday at Mall of Asia Arena.
Featured photo courtesy of UAAP
Photo Gallery at https://www.facebook.com/BurnDotPh/
Follow the writer on X: @burnsports
