Their title defense continues.
The Ateneo Blue Eagles on Wednesday secured the last Final Four slot in UAAP Season 86 after dominating the Adamson Soaring Falcons in their playoff match, 70-48, at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.
Right from the get-go, the Blue Eagles found their groove on offense to build up a double-digit lead.
Come the second half, it was the defense that prevailed for Ateneo, limiting the Soaring Falcons' opportunities. In the end, Adamson only shot 29% from the field.
Jared Brown led the way for the Blue Eagles with 20 points on a 4-of-7 clip from three-point land, as the Katipunan-based squad reached the Final Four for the ninth straight season.
“Our coaches have been preaching the game plan and we're just following what they say. I think today, we really followed it to a tee and we executed what they wanted and it resulted in the scoreboard,” Brown said during the postgame press conference.
Despite the dominating win, coach Tab Baldwin still had full praises for the Soaring Falcons.
“Probably on the scoreboard it didn’t look like a tough game in the end, but it was a very tough game. It always is with Adamson,” said Baldwin, who recently slammed "some of the people in our UAAP family" for criticizing the referees.
Prior to that, Adamson coach Nash Racela called out the officiating in the league.
Baldwin also pointed out the "tactical moves" done by both teams throughout their do-or-die affair, lauding his assistant coaches for being ready to anticipate Adamson’s steps.
“They (Ateneo assistant coaches) did a tremendous job preparing for what to anticipate from Coach Nash and the matchups he would try to impose on us and what we could do with our roster to counter as best as we can,” said Baldwin. “I feel like we did a good job.”
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The Blue Eagles now shift their focus on Saturday, when they will face their rivals, the twice-to-beat UP Fighting Maroons, in the Final Four in a bid to extend their title defense.
(PM)