The Ateneo Blue Eagles and the Far Eastern University Tamaraws nipped their rivals via contrasting wins as the UAAP Season 75 resumed on Sunday at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.

The Blue Eagles proved that they are finally wide awake as they displayed a remarkable performance on both sides of the court to clobber the National University Bulldogs, 89-65.

The Katipunan-based squad’s big three—Nico Salva, Kiefer Ravena and Greg Slaughter—combined for 52 points in a 50% field goal shooting to redeem themselves after a “wake-up call” loss to the University of Sto. Tomas Growling Tigers last Thursday.

“The whole plan was to execute,” said ADMU coach Norman Black who was pleased with the squad’s ball rotation which was missing on their previous game. Justin Chua, Tonina Gonzaga and Juami Tiongson joined the scoring with a contribution of 29 points.

Ateneo dominated and did not look back opening the game with a 8-0 lead and closing the first half with a comfortable edge at 55-34.

Season 74 MVP Bobby Ray Parks led a short-lived 8-0 rally for the Bulldogs on the third quarter to cut ADMU’s lead to 17, 61-44, before Gonzaga sank a three-pointer followed by a fast-break layup.

Parks scored 22 points and bagged seven rebounds for the Bulldogs before graduating from the game 4:14 left on the fourth canto.

In the first game, the Far Eastern University Tamaraws escaped a 48-46 victory over the De La Salle Green Archers to snatch the top spot with a 2-0 record.

Mike Tolomia unleashed the winning step-back jumper 47.6 seconds remaining on the clock, maneuvering against rookie Jeron Teng.

It was a low-scoring seesaw battle with both teams shooting poorly hitting 30% for FEU and 28% for DLSU.

Terrence Romeo led the Tamaraws with 10 points and five rebounds. Tolomia added seven.

BOX SCORES
First game
FAR EASTERN (48): Romeo 10, Tolomia 7, Hargrove 7, Pogoy 6, Garcia 6, A. Bringas 5, Cruz 4, Belo 3, Mendoza 0, Escoto 0, M. Bringas 0
DE LA SALLE (46): Andrada 8, Vosotros 8, Mendoza 8, N. Torres 8, Tallo 4, Van Opstal 2, T. Torres 0, Webb 0, Manguera 0
QUARTERS: 15-11, 23-26, 35-34, 48-46

Second game
ATENEO (89): Salva 21, Ravena 17, Slaughter 14, Chua 12, Gonzaga 9, Tiongson 8, Elorde 3, Buenafe 3, Erram 2, Porter 0, Pessumal 0, Capacio 0
NATIONAL U (65): Parks 22, Mbe 14, Villamor 10, Ignacio 6, Rono 5, De Guzman 2, Betayene 2, Alolino 2, Khobuntin 1, Javillonar 1, Rosario 0, Neypes 0, Labing-isa 0
QUARTERS: 28-17, 55-34, 72-54, 89-65