The Ateneo bench came up big in the biggest game of Season 85, and now the Blue Eagles are the champs once again.
Sometimes, all it takes is that one unsung hero to win a championship — that one guy who plays out of his mind, that magic 'bunot' who turns the game around, that unheralded backup who makes the big shots.
The Ateneo Blue Eagles had four of them in Game 3 of the Finals, and now they are the champions . . . again.
Sparked by the strong inside play of Finals MVP Angelo Kouame and the hot shooting of Mythical Team member Forthsky Padrigao, the Blue Eagles raced to an early 9-0 lead. They then got an even bigger spark from the quartet of Gab Gomez, Sean Quitevis, Geo Chiu, and Matthew Daves, each of whom contributed to the Ateneo cause in his own way.
Quitevis wreaked havoc with his ball-hawking defense and all-out hustle, guarding everyone of UP’s highly-touted guards — from JD Cagulangan to Terrence Fortea to Harold Alarcon. Gomez, on the other hand, exploded for 11 points in the first half after averaging just 3.1 points for the tournament.
Chiu and Daves, meanwhile, took turns spelling Kouame, and each hit timely baskets, including a straightaway three by Chiu late in the first half that quelled the first of what would be several UP uprisings.
They did all that in the first half, helping the Blue Eagles establish an 18-point cushion despite getting next-to-nothing from the foul-plagued Dave Ildefonso, the ineffective Kai Ballungay, and the passive Chris Koon. It was, to say the least, brilliant bench play from Ateneo’s less heralded players, but it was a perfect reminder of the band-of-brothers culture built and nurtured in this Tab Baldwin-era of Blue Eagles.
That cushion ultimately proved enough in the end, with Kouame closing the show with a dominant second half, the kind an MVP would deliver.
Now, this band of Blue Eagles is a band of champions — a winner thanks to a total team effort.