MANILA, Philippines – Reversal of roles.
 
In a game where University of Sto. Tomas Growling Tigers were supposed to play the spoiler’s role, it was the defending champion Ateneo Blue Eagles who did it.
 
The Eagles spoiled UST coach Pido Jarencio’s 46th birthday with a scrambling 81-77 win to claim the other twice-to-beat incentive in the Final Four on Sunday in the UAAP Season 73 men’s basketball at the Araneta Coliseum.
 
But the Eagles barely made it as the Tigers never gave up and went on a spirited chase of a huge 19-point deficit towards the endgame.
 
The Eagles looked headed to a runaway victory when they opened up a 68-49 lead in the third period.  The Tigers, however, refused to just roll over and die and tried to win this game for their coach.
 
Staring at a 55-70 deficit, the Tigers stormed back with a 17-6 run anchored on Clark Bautista’s hot shooting to come within 72-76 with still 1:42 left.
 
Emman Monfort saved the day with a back-breaking triple in the 1:25 mark to give Ateneo enough cushion, 79-72.
 
Nico Salva, who struggled throughout the game, split his charities before another Bautista 3-pointer made it 80-77 with still 36.6 second left.
 
UST had the golden chance to come closer when Salva lost the ball in the ensuing play.  But UST’s Carmelo Afuang flubbed his shot from point blank range, who appeared to have been nudged by Salva, in the final 14 seconds.
 
Kirk Long split his charities to peg the final count.
 
“They started bombing us with those three-pointers and it’s very difficult to defend a team that shoots like that,” Ateneo coach Norman Black said. “We broke down defensively especially on the perimeter.”
 
Eric Salamat led the Eagles with 18 points, 11 coming off the second quarter where the Eagles wrested control of the game.
 
Chris de Chavez stepped up and contributed 12 points to offset Salva’s shooting woes.

Salva only finished with 3 points on a horrible 1-of-10 shooting from the field.
 
The win shoved the Eagles to 10-3 and set up for big showdown on Saturday against league-leading Far Eastern University Tamaraws (11-2).
 
The Eagles need to win by at least 4 points to get the top seed in the Final Four.
 
The Tigers, meanwhile, dropped to 4-9, and will miss the Final Four for the second consecutive year under Jarencio, who piloted the team to the championship in 2006.

For more UAAP, visit www.UAAPsports.com.

The Scores:
 
ADMU 81 – Salamat 18, De Chavez 12, Chua 11, Long 10, Dela Cruz 6, Monfort 6, Buenafe 6, Golla 5, Salva 3, Tiongson 2, Austria 2, Escueta 0.
 
UST 77 – Teng 23, Bautista 16, Daquioag 10, Afuang 10, Mariano 8, Fortuna 6, Pe 4, Wong 0, Tinte 0, Marata 0, Mamaril 0, Lo 0, Marquez 0, Camus 0, Aytona 0.
 
Quarters: 17-13, 40-23, 60-45, 81-77.