Eagles rip Maroons, soar into joint lead

Ateneo de Manila overpowered University of the Philippines with its imposing inside game as it fashioned out a 98-89 victory yesterday to gain a share of the lead with University of the East in the 69th UAAP basketball tournament at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

Doug Kramer fired 20 points, all coming inside the lane to underscore the Eagles superiority in the paint while rookie Eric Salamat scattered 17 points, including 11 from the line, for Ateneo which nailed its second straight victory.

The Maroons fell to 1-1.

"I told the boys to take it inside, challenge their defense, and they did that today (yesterday)," said Ateneo coach Norman Black.

Just like what they did in a 94-92 win over the Santo Tomas Tigers last week, the Maroons leaned on their outside shooting with Marvin Cruz leading the charge again with a game-high 29 points.

But UP skipper Nestor David fell to foul trouble and eventually fouled out early in the fourth quarter, slowing down the Maroons’ offense and enabling Kramer and the other big men of Ateneo to capitalize.

Free throws also proved crucial as the Eagles made 39 of their 49 attempts while the Maroons bungled 14 of their 29 tries.

After battling the Maroons in a first quarter shootout, the Eagles pulled ahead at the half, 56-48, behind the duo of Kramer and Escueta.

But the Cruz-led UP squad came fighting back at resumption of the contest and knotted the count at 69-all late in the third before Ateneo’s big men took over and set the pace.

Earlier, Kramer and UP’s Ira Buyco were slapped a technical foul apiece for misconduct late in the second period that almost led to a fistfight before cooler heads intervened.

Earlier, Adamson dominated National University from start to finish as it ran away with an 88-64 victory to even its card to 1-1.

Patrick Cabahug and Ken Bono paced the Falcons with 22 and 20 points, respectively, as the Falcons erased the stigma of their humiliating 57-72 opening-day loss to the Warriors.

"I told the boys to just forget what happened in our first game and keep on working harder," said Adamson mentor Leo Austria, who took over from Mel Alas this year, in Filipino.

Edwin Asoro had a solid 18-point, 13-rebound and four-shot block effort but the Bulldogs sorely missed shooter Jonathan Fernandez, who sat out for the second straight game after sustaining an ankle injury in their 70-75 setback to the Eagles also last week.

It was NU’s second straight loss.