Eagles clip Falcons, set title clash vs Tams

MANILA, Philippines - The seniors basketball crown of the UAAP Season 73 will be rightfully disputed by the two teams that dominated the field the whole year.

Second seed Ateneo set the stage for a championship showdown with No. 1 Far Eastern University yesterday after demolishing No. 4 Adamson, 68-55, in their Final Four duel yesterday at the Araneta Coliseum.

Emman Monfort fired 22 points on a hot 3-of-3 from rainbow territory and 7-of-9 shooting overall as the Eagles extended their 28-game, 13-year mastery of the Falcons and more importantly remained on course for a third straight title.

“We really prepared well against Adamson. We broke down everything we’ve seen them do the entire year and luckily for me, I have pretty intelligent players; they were able to grasp what we wanted to do defensively and execute it,” said Ateneo coach Norman Black, whose crew is on its fourth finals appearance in the last five years.

Stepping up to ease the burden on Erik Salamat who’s yet to fully recover from fever, Monfort went perfect from the field to give Ateneo a 16-5 bulge in the first and a 39-29 margin at the break.

From there, the Eagles went on to post margins as big as 21, at 60-39, with 1:26 in the third.

“I just thought about doing my role as point guard and helping the team win since Erik is not 100 percent,” said Monfort, who also had seven rebounds, three assists and three steals.

Adamson coach Leo Austria said Ateneo’s vast talent and championship experience prevailed.

“We’re surprised by how prepared Ateneo was and our team was surprised by the atmosphere, having no experience in a Final Four,” said Austria. “Ateneo players know how to handle the situation whereas we were very erratic, our decision-making was very poor and you can’t afford to have those in a game like this.”

Ateneo and FEU, which clinched the first finals slot after beating No. 4 La Salle, 69-59, last Thursday, will begin their best-of-three tussle on Saturday at the Big Dome.

“We’ve not beaten them in two games this year but we had chances in both games. I’m looking forward to meeting them again. I think we match up pretty well against them,” said Black.