THE MIGHTY UP Fighting Maroons clobbered the UST Growling Tigers in the closing minutes, 83-73, in the second round of the UAAP Season 87 men’s basketball eliminations at the SMART Araneta Coliseum on Sunday, Oct. 13.
UP remained the second-best in the league with a 7-1 win-loss slate. Meanwhile, UST slipped to a 4-4 standing.
After a one-week pause, the Fighting Maroons came out the gates with confidence as Francis Lopez posterized Nic Cabañero to take an early six-point lead, 13-7.
UST caught up after driving a 9-2 run as Cabañero went 2-for-3 from the free-throw line, 16-15. But UP reclaimed the lead by the end of the first frame with a three from Lopez, 18-17.
It was a seesaw duel in the second salvo as both teams went back-and-forth. Tied at 38-all, Cabañero hit a right-side triple to give the Tigers the upper hand, 41-38.
UP team captain JD Cagulangan, who missed the last two games, made his presence felt with a three-pointer to overtake the lead, 43-41. UST foreign student-athlete then scored right at the buzzer to tie the game by halftime, 43-all.
In the even tighter third chapter, the España squad rode a 5-0 blitz capped off by a left-corner triple from Tounkara, 59-54.
The Diliman-based squad then responded with a five-point swing courtesy of sharpshooter Terrence Fortea, 59-all. Tiger Christian Manaytay, however, nailed a triple to finish the third period with a 62-59 edge.
Entering the fourth frame, UST point guard Forthsky Padrigao drilled a three-pointer to boost his team’s momentum, 65-61. But it was all for naught.
The league’s finest surged a 16-2 run, pulling away in the final minutes. Fortea fired back-to-back clutch triples to bury the Tigers.
The uber-athletic Lopez led UP to victory with 20 points, seven boards and two assists. Fortea scored 16 points and four long bombs. Harold Alarcon and big man Quentin Millora-Brown had 11 and 10 markers, respectively.
Despite the loss, Tounkara dropped 24 points and nine boards for UST. Cabañero chalked up 17 points and nine rebounds, while Manaytay added a dozen markers.
The Tigers will look to bounce back against the reigning champions DLSU Green Archers on Oct. 16, Wednesday at the Mall of Asia Arena. F
