‘Fly high’: Ateneo cheers Blue Eagles for winning World University Basketball Series

August 12, 2022 - 4:53 PM
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Ateneo Blue Eagles_WUBS
Ateneo Blue Eagles as the first World University Basketball Series champions in this photo posted on Facebook on Aug. 11, 2022. (Photo from Facebook/SMARTSportsPhilippines)

“Fly high!”

The Ateneo de Manila University cheered its collegiate men’s basketball team for being the first-ever champions of the World University Basketball Series (WUBS) on Thursday.

WUBS is an annual champions league-style, invitations-only tournament for leading universities’ basketball teams.

For its first edition, top universities from Indonesia, Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines participated from August 9 to 11 at the Yoyogi National Stadium Second Gymnasium in Tokyo.

The Philippines’ Ateneo emerged as champions after defeating Japan’s Tokoi University players, the hometown team, at 68-59.

Reports said that Dave Ildefonso showed the way with 12 markers as the Blue Eagles completed a sweet sweep of the tournament under a single-round robin format.

“Congratulations, Blue Eagles! Fly high!” Ateneo said in a Facebook post.

The Ateneo Blue Eagles also had a “tough win” against Taiwan’s National Chengchi University on August 10, scoring 88-78.

Prior to that, they defeated Indonesia’s Universitas Pelita Harapan with a score of 125-39.

The Blue Eagles’ victory comes after being defeated during the 84th season of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines by the University of the Philippines’ Fighting Maroons.