Eagles outduel Tams, shine with third jewel

MANILA, Philippines - Ryan Buenafe carried Ateneo on his shoulders as the Blue Eagles conquered Far Eastern U, 65-62, to achieve a three-peat yesterday in the UAAP Season 73 seniors basketball finals at the Araneta Coliseum.

The burly Buenafe fired 10 of his 23 points in the fourth period, including a dagger of a triple in the dying seconds, to power Ateneo to a 2-0 conquest of their top-seeded finals foe and clinch their third straight men’s crown and sixth overall.

“With respect to my former players, this has been the most gratifying championship for me, mainly because this is the most difficult. We weren’t the favorites going to the season but I think we had a good team at the start, I just had to develop them as the league went on. Luckily they’ve been listening to me and really executed what had to be done,” said coach Norman Black after giving AdMU its three-peat feat in the UAAP.

Buenafe, who had a rather unremarkable season owing to weight problems, spearheaded a 10-5 attack that broke a 54-all standoff, capping it with a blast from 23 feet for a five-point Ateneo cushion going to the last 22.1 seconds.

“He (Buenafe) said he would step up when we really needed him, he’s been telling me that all along and he did give us his breakout game tonight,” said Black of his forward, who has actually won six straight championships counting his three-peat with the San Sebastian Staglets in the NCAA.

Buenafe previously shot seven percent from rainbow country prior to the booming trey that drove the nail on the coffin of FEU, which missed coach Glen Capacio for the entire second half. Capacio’s blood pressure shot up during the second canto and was rushed to the Medical City for further checks.

After Ateneo’s 72-49 rout in the series opener last Saturday, the Tams came out with a lot more fire and intensity yesterday, storming to a 24-13 lead early in the second.

But the Eagles clawed their way back into the game with a 15-3 counter-assault for a 28-27 margin.

Buenafe also had six rebounds and was backed up by Emman Monfort (10), Nico Salva (9)and Kirk Long and Justin Chua (7 each).

Reil Cervantes led FEU with 15 points and 10 boards while graduating player Paul Sanga added 13 and Mythical 5 member Aldrech Ramos had nine. MVP RR Garcia was limited to his lowest output this season, six points, but had eight rebounds and six assists.