Time for some payback
University of the Philippines got some more of the bitter taste of last year’s title series loss out of its system on Sunday night after posting an 80-76 nipping of La Salle in Season 89 eliminations of the UAAP men’s basketball tournament at Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.
Veejay Pre scored seven of his 19 points in the fourth period as the Fighting Maroons held fort even with La Salle closing out with a 20-12 run, as UP returned to its winning ways to rise to 3-2 and snap the defending champion Green Archers’ two-game winning run.
“Going towards this game, we knew it was going to be a test of character for the team,” coach Goldwin Monteverde said. “Facing a team like La Salle after having two losses was a big challenge for us.”
Meanwhile, Adamson kept University of the East winless after pulling out a 71-64 victory in an earlier game.
Highest soaring Falcon
Ray Allen Torres topscored for the Falcons with 17 points as Adamson also rose to 3-2. The Falcons also got 14 points and 12 rebounds from Precious Jonah.
Matt Erolon scored 12 while Earl Medina and Mathew Montebon turned in 11 and 10, respectively, for coach Nash Racela.
UP took a 63-53 lead into the fourth quarter only to see La Salle cut that down to seven heading into the halfway mark. La Salle would go on to uncork a 10-2 rally capped by a Jacob Cortez triple to take the lead, 73-72, with 2:40 minutes left.
And that was where the Maroons’ poise under pressure came to fore, as Pre sank a fallaway, which came after Dikachi Udodo split his freebies for 75-73, with 1:32 remaining.
The Maroons would then go 4-for-6 from the stripe from there to preserve the win and make it a very tight race in the upper half of the standings.
1-2 UP punch
Rey Remogat found his rhythm for the Maroons and finished with 20 points while Pre also contributed seven rebounds. Elliott Dimaculangan also chipped in with 11 for the Maroons.
JC Macalalag paced La Salle with 17 points while Luis Pablo finished just a rebound shy of a double-double with 14 points and nine boards. Doy Dungo and Jacob Cortez, meanwhile, had 12 and 10 points, respectively, and failed to help the Archers in dropping to a level 3-3 card.
Toper Lagat scored 22 for the struggling Red Warriors. DJ Robles also had 12 in the loss that sent UE to a 0-6 record. The loss is the squad’s 26th straight since Season 87 in 2024.
“We weren’t really surprised with how they played in the second half because I always reminded my players that UE is also due for a win,” said Racela. “The players knew what they were supposed to do.”
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