Ateneo's Niko Salva finds himself in heavy traffic as he drives to the basket opposite Mbah Ifeanyi and an unidentified UP Maroon during UAAP action Saturday at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum. (Photo by BOB DUNGO JR.)

MANILA, Philippines — Defending champion Ateneo clamped down on defense in the final three quarters to whip University of the Philippines, 77-57, and stay unbeaten in the 74th UAAP basketball tournament Saturday at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.

All of the Blue Eagles' starters scored in double figures even as they put the fight out of the Maroons starting in the second quarter to remain on top of the league with a clean 5-0 slate.

“I thought we played very good defense in the last three quarters,” said coach Norman Black. “We didn't play bad defense in the first quarter, it's just that UP was playing good offense.”

Rookie Kiefer Ravena made up for some jittery moments to lead Ateneo with 15 points, three rebounds, four assists and four steals and 6-foot-11 Greg Slaughter registered his second straight double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds aside from two blocks.

Veteran guard Kirk Long, Ateneo's chief defender, added 14 points and three assists with point guard Eman Monfort continuing his productive showing by making 13 points, four rebounds, four assists and one steal.

Ateneo also won by shooting 6-of-10 from three-point range, a big difference from its 1-of-17 clip in last week's 73-61 rout of University of the East.

The defeat sent the Maroons down to 1-3 after losing to their neighbors from Loyola for the fourth consecutive time.

UP made things interesting at the start, leading 21-19 on Alinko Mbah's buzzer-beating basket to end the first and even led 23-19 early in the second on a basket by rookie big man Paolo Romero, an ex-Ateneo Blue Eaglet.

Two foul shots by Mike Silungan gave the Diliman cagers their last lead at 29-27 with over five minutes to spare before the half then Eman Monfort uncorked two triples to set up a 15-2 windup and a 42-31 halftime advantage.

From there, it was all Ateneo as it kept the struggles of UP, which shot just 9-of-38 from the field in the final two quarters and muffed two of its last 22 attempts from rainbow country after a 3-for-3 start.

The Maroons' frustrations eventually led to coach Ricky Dandan receiving a technical foul for continuous complaining and big Carlo Gomez was ejected with two minutes left in the game for a disqualifying foul.

Referees initially ruled it an unsportsmanlike foul but the video review showed that Gomez threw a closed fist near Nico Salva's groin to earn an automatic toss. He will likely receive a one-game suspension pending final approval of commissioner Andy Jao.

No UP player scored in double figures with Silungan, Jet Manuel and Mike Gamboa scoring eight markers apiece.

In the other game, Cris Tolomia drained the winning three with 2.9 seconds left and Far Eastern University came back from 13 points down to stun University of Santo Tomas, 62-59.

Guarded all game long by UST's Jeric Teng who had 23 points, RR Garcia found an open Tolomia from the left wing and the former Philippine Youth member calmly hit the triple as the Tams escaped with their fourth win in five games.

Tolomia finished with 10 points, all in the second half with seven coming in the payoff period as the Morayta-based squad, who beat UST for the seventh consecutive game, forged a tie for second with idle Adamson.

The scores:

First Game

ATENEO 77 — Ravena 15, Slaughter 14, Long 14, Monfort 13, Salva 10, Gonzaga 6, Golla 2, Chua 2, Tiongson 1, Pessumal 0, Cipriano 0, Capacio 0, Erram 0, Sumalinog 0, Austria 0.

UP 57 — Silungan 8, Manuel 8, Gamboa 8, Mbah 7, Maniego 7, Romero 6, Montecastro 6, Gomez 5, Pascual 2, Wierzba 0, Fortu 0, Juruena 0.

Quarters: 19-21; 42-31; 57-43; 77-57.

Second Game

FEU 62 — Tolomia 10, Ramos 10, Garcia 9, Exciminiano 8, Cawaling 7, Cruz 6, Bringas 6, Romeo 4, Foronda 2, Sentcheu 0, Fabian 0, Escoto 0, Knuttel 0.

UST 59 — Teng 23, Fortuna 16, Camus 8, Ferrer 6, Abdul 3, Lo 2, Afuang 1, Vigil 0, Tan 0, Pe 0.

Quarters: 16-15; 21-30; 38-44; 62-59.