MANILA, Philippines (UPDATE 3) – With vengeance in their eyes, the Ateneo Blue Eagles snapped the fight out from their arch-rival De La Salle Green Archers early on leading to a runaway 74-57 victory on Sunday in the UAAP Season 73 men’s basketball at the Araneta Coliseum.
 
Unlike in their first meeting, which went to La Salle, 66-63, there was no drama and suspense this time around as the Eagles jumped out to an early double digit spread and never gave the Archers a chance to recover.
 
“Defensively, we did a better job on their shooters and breaking their press,” Ateneo coach Norman Black said.
 
The Eagles went on to lead by as much as 20 in the first half and even extended the lead to 26 in the third period, 55-29, on Kirk Long’s 5-point binge inside the 5-minute mark.
 
Long fired on all cylinders as the American guard set a new career-high 22 points anchored on 4-of-5 shooting from beyond the arc.  He scored 9 of his points in the opening period where the Eagles set the tempo.
 
Long added 3 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals with no single foul committed in 28 minutes of play despite getting the tough assignment of guarding La Salle’s first meeting hero Samuel Joseph Marata, who only scored 4 points.
 
“Yesterday, Kirk was shooting well in practice and it showed today. I like the way our team is built because you don’t know who will explode.  Anybody can have a great game,” Black said referring to different players topscoring for the team in their six-game winning run since losing to La Salle in the first round.
 
Ateneo is now in solo second with their 8th win in 10 games while La Salle remained at fourth spot despite dropping to 6-4, narrowing the gap between them and closest pursuer National University (4-6).
 
The Eagles shot 42.9% from the field and played selflessly as a team dishing out 23 assists.
 
In contrast, the Archers only made 34.5% of their shots and registered only 13 assists.
 
“We didn’t play good defense at all.  In the first half, you saw a different La Salle team.  We’ll bounce back [against FEU on Thursday],” La Salle coach Dindo Pumaren said.
 
Jovet Mendoza topscored for La Salle with a career-high 20 points and was the only Archer in double figures.
 
At one stretch in the third period, the 6-3 forward was the only Archer scoring against the Eagles’ choking defense.
 
The Archers managed to cut the deficit to 14, 25-39, at the start of the third period before Long caught fire again as half of the 15, 632 crowd fell silent.
 
Ateneo rookie Art dela Cruz, Jr. came up with his best game so far finishing with 10 points and 10 rebounds to support Long.
 
Buenafe also continued his steady rise as the versatile forward chipped in 9 points on top of 5 rebounds and 6 assists.
 
The Scores:
 
ADMU 74 – Long 22, Dela Cruz 10, Buenafe 9, Salva 7, Monfort 7, Salamat 6, Golla 6, Austria 3, Escueta 2, Chua 2, Erram 0, Tiongson 0.
 
DLSU 57 – Mendoza 20, Villanueva 7, Andrada 6, Tampus 5, Tolentino 5, Atkins 5, Marata 4, Dela Paz 3, Webb 2, Vosotros 0, Paredes 0, Elorde 0, Feredinand 0, Banal 0.
 
Quarters: 19-11, 39-21, 61-40, 74-57.