MANILA, Philippines – (UPDATED) Even without head coach Aldin Ayo and team captain Jeron Teng, De La Salle University still proved too strong for Ateneo de Manila University as the Green Archers registered a 97-81 demolition of their rivals in their first meeting of the UAAP Season 79 men's basketball tournament.

In front of a crowd of 16,212 fans on Sunday at the Mall of Asia Arena, La Salle broke the game open with a dominant second quarter to cruise to a seventh consecutive victory and complete a sweep of the first round of the tournament.

With Teng sitting out the game due to bone spurs, and Ayo serving a one-game suspension following his ejection in their previous game against University of the East, it was athletic big man Ben Mbala who boosted La Salle as he tallied 28 points, 13 rebounds, five steals, and one block while firing up their crowd with his highlight-reel dunks.

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Ateneo, which entered the game tied for second place, finished the first round with a 4-3 win-loss record and in fourth place.

Andrei Caracut added 14 points, and Abu Tratter scored 10 for the Green Archers. All but one player scored at least one point for La Salle, which converted 42.17% of their attempts from the field and registered a dominant victory even as they made only six of 25 three-pointers.

"This game is really a testimony of what Coach Aldin teaches his players," interim coach Louie Gonzales told reporters after the game. "It's just being responsible, and the players were responsible throughout the game."

"We didn't have any problems. Everything that we asked them to do inside the court, even though it was difficult, even though they were tired, they found a way to do it," he added.

Second quarter storm

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The Blue Eagles kept in step with La Salle in the first quarter, using their crisp ball movement to generate open looks from beyond the arc. Back-to-back three-pointers by Thirdy Ravena gave Ateneo a 20-16 lead, with 2:07 left to go in the first period, but La Salle forced a 20-all deadlock off buckets from Ben Mbala and Kib Montalbo.

Three-pointers by Matt Nieto and Kris Porter gave Ateneo its biggest lead, 26-20, with 9:16 to go in the second period, but it proved to be the last time that the Blue Eagles would taste the lead.

The Green Archers unleashed the full force of their "mayhem" defense on their archrivals, resulting in a stunning 21-3 run in less than five minutes that completely broke the game open. La Salle's aggressive press caused Ateneo to have trouble just crossing the half-court line, and better rotation prevented the Blue Eagles from knocking down their perimeter shots.

"I told them to make life hard for every possession," Gonzales said. "Play the passing lanes. During the halftime break, I told them we have to double our effort."

Jason Perkins, playing in just his second game of the season, gave La Salle a huge lift with five points in the run, while Ricci Rivero also came through with a triple off the bench. Mbala was his usual dominant self, while Andrei Caracut provided a scoring punch as well.

By the time the dust settled, La Salle had seized a 41-29 advantage with four minutes left in the second quarter. A floater by Nieto and a lay-up by Thirdy Ravena trimmed the deficit to nine points, 33-41, with 3:21 left, but in the next possession, Ravena was called for an unsportsmanlike foul after being caught throwing an elbow at the rookie Rivero.

It was actually the second unsportsmanlike foul called on the Blue Eagles, after Vince Tolentino was earlier called for one as well – again drawn by Rivero.

After Ravena's unsportsmanlike foul, the Green Archers went on a 12-2 run to enter the break with a massive 53-35 lead.

The lead would balloon to 27 points in the fourth quarter, 85-58, after yet another unsportsmanlike foul called on Ateneo's Matt Nieto that resulted to a split at the line from Mbala, and a lay-up from the Cameroonian big man in their bonus possession.

Three-pointers by the Blue Eagles late in the fourth period made the final score more respectable, but all in all it was a thoroughly dominant performance for the Green Archers as they outclassed their archrivals in nearly all departments.

Complete dominance

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La Salle forced Ateneo to commit 30 turnovers, 12 more than their season average. They also had a 49-41 advantage on the boards, and a 23-11 advantage on the offensive glass that led to 21 second chance points. The Green Archers scored a whopping 33 points off Ateneo's turnovers, while committing only 17 of their own – nine below their season average.

They had 16 steals in the game -- the most registered in a UAAP match since 2003.

Their tremendous display against their archrivals resulted in a sweep of the first round and proved right the early season projections that installed La Salle as the hands-down favorite to win the title this year.

"The sweep didn't cross our minds at all," Gonzales insisted. "As Coach Aldin said, we're not yet complete. Every game, we know that there will be a new challenge for the team. The good thing is that with every challenge and every game, the team responds and the team improves."

Adrian Wong led Ateneo with 15 points, four rebounds, and four assists, while Ravena finished with a double-double of 11 points and 11 rebounds, but was also responsible for seven of Ateneo's 30 turnovers.

Chibueze Ikeh, tasked with matching up with Mbala early, had seven points and five rebounds and was a -43 at the end of the game.

It was a sorry loss for the Blue Eagles, who entered the game riding the momentum of an impressive performance against Katipunan rivals University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons.

The scores:

DLSU 97 – Mbala 28, Caracut 14, Tratter 10, Torres 8, Montalbo 8, Rivero R 8, Melecio 5, Perkins 5, Dyke 4, Baltazar 2, Go 2, Paraiso 2, Rivero P 1, Sargent 0

ATENEO 81 – Wong 15, Nieto Ma 13, Asistio 11, Ravena 11, Mendoza 9, Ikeh 7, Porter 6, Go 5, Babilonia 2, Nieto Mi 2, Tolentino 0, Verano 0

QUARTER SCORES: 20-20, 53-36, 80-58, 97-81

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