A Defensive Win: How Ateneo's Defense Beat the Hard-Fighting Tigers?

For those who don't know yet, the game between the UST Growling Tigers and the Ateneo Blue Eagles was just a "pre-season game" as it was a part of the ongoing UAAP-NCAA Challenge from which the top 2 finishers will move on to the final 4 of the PCCL. Now, why on that?

If you look at the level of the physicality in the game especially in the final minutes when Ateneo was already up by a big margin, it looked like these two teams were playing for the championship. And considering who the coaches of both teams are, it shouldn't come as a surprise either as Tab Baldwin and Aldin Ayo are considered as two of the best coaches in the UAAP as evident by the fact that they faced each other in the finals 4 times already.

However, it was Tab Baldwin's Blue Eagles who came out with an 82-71 victory over the Growling Tigers in their first encounter since last season's UAAP Finals where Ateneo swept UST in two games. And don't be fooled by the final score because Ateneo was up as high as 17 points and UST was able to cut it down to a one-point deficit but somehow, the Tigers couldn't get over the hump. In other words, UST has yet to solve the puzzle inside Tab Baldwin's mind. 

So, how did it go down?

The Belangel-Kouame Duo Went to Work

Like in their game against the San Beda Red Lions yesterday, SJ Belangel was the leading scorer of Ateneo today as #0 went on to score 26 points against UST on 7 for 13 field goal shooting. He shot 6 for 9 from the three-point line and most of those threes came in just in time to stop the scoring spurt of the Tigers especially in the second half. Belangel also had 2 steals and shot 6 for 7 from the free-throw line. On the other hand, Angelo Kouame won his match-up against the reigning UAAP MVP, Soulemane Chabi-Yo. Kouame, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, posted 15 points, 13 rebounds, and 5 blocks while playing for 24 minutes and also helping in limiting Chabi-Yo to only 5 points on 1 for 5 field goal shooting. 

Ugly Shooting Percentages for the Tigers

If there's one thing that we should remember in Tab Baldwin's playbook, it's that defense is always the key. Always.

And against a scrappy UST side who is known for their run-and-gun game, it's the defensive scheme of the Blue Eagles that prevented the Tigers from taking the lead even when the latter was within a single point before the Blue Eagles were able to break away in the fourth quarter.

How bad was it?

Ateneo's defense limited UST to 21 for 71 field goal shooting. That's 29%. The Growling Tigers' 2-point shooting percentage was worse at 27% due to the big frontline of Ateneo that includes Kouame, Geo Chiu, Matthew Daves, the Maagdemberg brothers of Patrick and Edward, and Will Navaro. While UST's three-point shooting percentage (32%) was better compared to that of the Blue Eagles, Ateneo's defense in the second half, especially when UST was trying to make a comeback, was able to stop the long-range bombers of UST from hitting their targets.

Mark Nonoy shot 2 for 9 from three while finishing with 9 points. Rhenz Abando scored 14 points but shot 3 for 12 from the field including 3 for 9 performance from long distance. Sherwin Concepcion, someone who can shoot the lights out, only made 1 of his 5 attempts from rainbow country. 

But what made the biggest difference in the game was the fact that Ateneo was able to limit UST to only 6 points in the fourth quarter alone. That was a big difference indeed from the second and third quarters where UST scored 23 and 27 points respectively.

As they say, defense wins championships. And with the way Ateneo has been defending in their past two games, they are surely the favorites to repeat as PCCL champions. 

Photo is from Tiebreaker Times