Ateneo blasts Atletas to go three in a row in the Jones Cup

Thirdy Ravena and Ateneo tore LSU-Atletas to shreds for their biggest win of their Jones Cup campaign. file

By Kevin Estrada

Ateneo De Manila caused one of the biggest upsets in the Jones Cup when they smothered Lithuania's Atletas Kaunas in a comprehensive 98-65 beating tonight in New Taipei, Taiwan.

The reigning UAAP champions got their biggest win of their campaign as they push for a podium finish by winning their third straight game to improve to 4-2, with five Blue Eagles scored in double figures.

The game was close in the opening frame until Ateneo limited the Lithuanians to just 29 points in the middle quarters to kill the game for good, as William Navarro stepped up with 20 points on a 10/13 clip from inside the arc.

Ateneo had transitioned from their outside sniping yesterday against Indonesia, to barreling themselves from inside the arc when they out-shot Atletas by 8%.

Angelo Kouame backed Navarro with 19 and Thirdy Ravena was just two boards shy of a double-double to go along with 14 points.

Žygimantas Jocys lead Atletas with 20 in a losing effort as the lone guy in green to score in double figures as they only played with eight out of their possible eleven guys listed.

The Scores:

ATENEO 98 -- Navarro 20, Kouame 19, Ravena 14, Nieto Mi. 10, Go 10, Asistio 8, White 6, Black 4, Nieto Ma. 3, Tio 3, Daves 1, Wong 0.

LSU-Atletas 65 -- Jocys 20, Motuzas 9, Norkus 9, Neimantas 8, Rimša 7, Sabecka 7, Paulauskas 5, Vazalis 0.

Quarter scores: 22-17, 41-28, 73-46, 98-65

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