UP Preventing Maroons’ Malick Diouf and Francis Lopez within the UAAP males’s basketball Finals Recreation 1. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.web
College of the Philippines (UP) whipped La Salle, 97-67, within the UAAP males’s basketball finals on Wednesday. That did the job for Recreation 1.
The Maroons additionally threw slightly early additional work for Recreation 2, beating up the Archers so badly at Mall of Asia Area, that it left everybody questioning how their Taft-based foes will stand up.
“We’ll simply preserve doing what our coaches inform us to do [in Game 2],” Harold Alarcon, who led UP with 21 factors, mentioned after the sport. “That’s what we did at the moment. We adopted the sport plan and also you all noticed the end result.”
If that Recreation 2 technique is pretty much as good because it was on Wednesday, UP may find yourself lighting up Diliman.
The Maroons had been so good, they had been higher in virtually all departments. They shot higher, making 40.1 % of their area objectives in comparison with 38.6 for the Archers. UP additionally had 55 rebounds in opposition to La Salle’s 45. And, maybe most crucially, the Maroons turned the ball over solely seven instances in opposition to the Archers’ 18, main right into a 24-2 benefit in factors off errors.
Historical past’s warning
UP rookie Francis Lopez hangs on the rim throughout Recreation 1 of the UAAP Season 86 males’s basketball Finals in opposition to La Salle.–MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.web
UP was so good, the one factor they needed to fear about on the last buzzer was a chunk of historical past.
“Final season, we received Recreation 1 [against Ateneo] however we misplaced Recreation 2 and Recreation 3,” warned guard JD Cagulangan.
UP coach Goldwin Monteverde agreed.
“We … know that the Finals is not going to be received with one recreation,” he mentioned. “It’s a sequence. “We now have to know what to work on and be prepared for the subsequent recreation.”
Up by simply 4 on the finish of the primary quarter, UP tore the sport huge open within the second interval and simply stored constructing on the lead from that time by limiting the league’s greatest offense to a sputtering efficiency.“The protection was actually nice,” Monteverde mentioned, because the breakaway allowed the Maroons the luxurious of sharpening their psychological focus for Recreation 2.
“After we had been up 20, [the veterans] huddled the group and mentioned we would have liked to remain degree,” Cagulangan mentioned. “That’s what we have to do [in the next game], we nonetheless want to present 100% in Recreation 2.”
Francis Lopez added 15 factors and 11 rebounds for the Maroons.
Kevin Quiambao, La Salle’s do-it-all ahead who topped the season’s Most Beneficial Participant race, completed with simply 11 factors on a pedestrian four-of-10 taking pictures from the sphere. He additionally added six rebounds and three assists. Quiambao made simply one in every of 4 three-pointers whereas your entire La Salle squad was simply two-of-23 from behind the arc.
Mike Phillips led the Archers with 19 factors and 9 rebounds.
“UP simply confirmed us why they’re the No. 1 group within the UAAP proper now. At this level, we actually can’t search for different excuses however [we have to] bounce again,” mentioned La Salle coach Topex Robinson.
Recreation 2 is scheduled on Sunday.
“Hopefully, that might be my final recreation,” mentioned graduating UP skipper CJ Cansino after watching his group forge probably the most lopsided Finals margin in 25 years.
UST’s breakthrough
In the meantime, the College of Santo Tomas (UST) moved inside one other win of ending the Nationwide College’s (NU) seven-year reign within the UAAP girls’s basketball.
The Golden Tigresses’ 76-72 win in opposition to the Bulldogs additionally ended a 20-game dropping streak in opposition to NU.
“So completely happy that lastly we received a win in opposition to NU, which is an important as a result of that is the championship sequence,” UST coach Haydee Ong mentioned. “Thanks to the women [who] actually labored exhausting for this [as well as] the entire group.
“Till the final second the place NU may’ve come again, [the Tigresses] stored their composure.”
That composure manufactured 16 steals and 27 factors off turnovers for UST earlier than holding off any final ditch efforts by NU within the stretch.
Kent Pastrana’s 15 factors, six rebounds and 4 steals and Ana Tacatac’s 14 factors and two steals whereas Brigette Santos and Nikki Villasin mixed for 22 factors in main the Tigresses.
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Recreation 2 of this sequence can also be on Sunday.