Ateneo Blue Eagles UAAP Season 73 Champions 3 Peat

The ADMU Blue Eagles are Champions once again in the UAAP Season 73 men's and juniors' basketball tournament. They've just become one of the 4 UAAP Teams to win back-to-back-to-back in men's basketball along with the ranks of University of the East, University of Sto. Tomas and arch-rival De La Salle University.

The Ateneo De Manila Univesity Blue Eagles was lifted by Ryan Buenafe's heroics. He had 23 points that helped Ateneo win the game via 65-62. 17, 215 people flocked in the Araneta Coliseum. As what I saw, majority of the crowd were Ateneans because of their blue colored shirts.

Buenafe has been a winner all his life. In Highschool, when he played for San Sebastian Staglets he won 3 championships and in college he has had won another 3 titles for Ateneo.



In his recent championship, Ryan Buenafe went for and 8 out of 12 shooting from the field, snagging 6 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal.

In the second quarter the Blue Eagles were down by 9 points but Buenafe rallied Ateneo to stem the tied by just 1 point. At the end of the first half the score was 30-31. They were down by just one point.

In the fourth quarter Buenafe scored 11 points and he also delivered the most critical shot that sealed the fate of FEU. The time came down to 22.1 seconds when Ateneo was just leading by two points via 61-59, Ryan Buenafe, who was struggling to shoot three's made the biggest three pointer in the game. It went in and the green side went mad. Glen Capacio was so mad that he didn't went out of the dug out when the third quarter started.

Buenafe said:“Kasi ang gulo na 'nun. Laging sinasabi sa akin ni coach [Norman Black] na pagdating sa mga ganung sitwasyon, kunin ko na ang bola at mag-take over.” It was this trait that made him the Finals MVP.

Ryan Buenafe promised the Ateneo crowd that he would help his team win another championship.

Norman Black said, “Actually, he (Buenafe)he predicted this [performance]. He was telling that he will deliver in the final game. He had won three championships coming into the UAAP. What can I say? He's a winner. FEU came out aggressive and very physical which is understandable because they want to re-establish themselves They want send us the message that we're still here in the series. But it got them into foul trouble and luckily for us, we hung in there and attacked when we found an opening.” FEU missed 14 free throws, the last four missed shots came when they needed them most.

The FEU athletic director Mark Molina said “Credit goes to Ateneo [Blue Eagles]. They have the championship experience and played with great composure. Any team which only commits five turnovers would be hard to beat in any game.”

Here's the Ateneo Hymn: One Big Fight!