MANILA, Philippines – Dave Ildefonso barely missed a beat in his first game for the Ateneo Blue Eagles, some two years after transferring from National University.

Ildefonso had been a star for the Blue Eaglets, helping them win the juniors title in Season 80. He committed to the NU Bulldogs and played two seasons there, where he was their top scoring option.

But he decided to return to Ateneo in January 2020.

"My biggest basketball dream has always been to represent the country in major international meets and I feel that this is the best path to that fulfillment of my dream," Ildefonso said at the time.

• READ: Why Dave Ildefonso is returning to Ateneo

In his first game for the Blue Eagles, Ildefonso immediately showed why he had been such a sought-after recruit out of high school. The guard had a team-high 19 points, going 7 of 14 from the field, while grabbing six rebounds in Ateneo's 90-81 win against University of the Philippines.

• GAME RECAP: Ateneo begins title-retention bid with victory over UP

"His performance today, I think, is a great start for him as a Blue Eagle, and we hope there's many more like it," Ateneo coach Tab Baldwin said afterward.

Baldwin had famously said in September 2018 that he wanted Ildefonso to "rethink [his] decision" to go to NU, after the Blue Eagles limited the guard to four points in a huge 72-46 victory.

• READ: Ateneo coach Baldwin apologizes for comments on NU's Ildefonso

In the wake of Ildefonso's transfer, Baldwin credited the guard for what has been a seamless transition back into the Blue and White.

"The whole process with Dave has been much more of a delight, and much easier than I anticipated it would be," said Baldwin. "He gets the entire credit for that."

Baldwin praised Ildefonso for his humility throughout the process, despite having already established a name for himself in his first two seasons with the Bulldogs.

"He came in very humble, he came in with his own specific goals and objectives to make sure that the efforts that he made, made the team better," said the coach. "And I've never, ever had to redress that with Dave once."

"What can I say as a coach other than, this is a young man that made a big decision in his life, and he has made that decision work. Nobody else," he stressed. "He has made it work, and I think he will continue to make it work."

"God-willing, it is, in the end, a good decision for him and his future. We certainly believe that it is, but God-willing, it will be. But I know that the work he's putting in, the caliber of young man that he is, I don't see any road blocks for him."

Ildefonso, for his part, said the time he spent with the national team program since 2020 was crucial for him to learn Baldwin's system. He had been among the amateurs called up to Gilas Pilipinas for the FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers, and played in the November 2020 window against Thailand.

"I'm one of the fortunate players who was under Coach Tab in Gilas," said Ildefonso. "We never really took that long of a break."

"We had our own bubbles, and we had our own games as well. Just being under Coach Tab during that duration of time just really helped me understand his system much more," he added.

Ildefonso and the Blue Eagles are back in action on Tuesday against Far Eastern University.