MANILA, Philippines – Ateneo de Manila University weathered a late rally from National University to carve out a 64-49 win and inch closer towards a first-round sweep of the UAAP Season 80 juniors basketball tournament on Saturday at the FilOil Flying V Centre.

Joaqui Manuel, Jason Credo, and Kai Sotto converted the key baskets down the stretch for the Blue Eaglets, as they pulled away at 64-48 after the Bullpups cut down a 23-point deficit to just 10 points.

Now the only unbeaten team with a 6-0 win-loss slate, Ateneo shoots for a first round sweep against De La Salle-Zobel next Saturday at 3 p.m., at the same San Juan venue.

SJ Belangel was impressive anew for the Blue Eaglets, tallying 14 points, eight assists, seven rebounds, and four steals. Manuel and Dave Ildefonso combined for 22 points, while Sotto had 12 rebounds and eight blocks.

• READ: Belangel does it all as Blue Eaglets remain unscathed

On the other hand, no one finished in double-digits for the Bullpups as they suffered their first loss of the tournament after opening their campaign with five consecutive wins.

Earlier, University of Santo Tomas bounced back with an 83-72 win over La Salle-Zobel.

CJ Cansino had 23 points, 15 rebounds, four assists, and two steals as the Tiger Cubs improved to 4-2 for third place.

LJ Gonzales had 15 points, seven boards, five assists, and four steals as defending champion Far Eastern University-Diliman snapped a three-game losing streak with a 90-63 rout of University of the Philippines Integrated School.

Meanwhile, brothers Adam and Andrey Doria combined for 35 points to power Adamson University past University of the East, 83-65.

The Baby Tamaraws and the Baby Falcons are currently in joint fourth with identical 3-3 records, while the Junior Archers dropped to 2-4.

The Junior Maroons and the Junior Warriors, meanwhile, bring up the rear with 1-5 and 0-6 slates, respectively.

(For more sports coverage, visit the ABS-CBN Sports website.)