SUPERSTITIONS are hard to believe by their very nature - or being unnatural, for that matter.
But ever since the UAAP played a number of its matches inside University of Santo Tomas' Quadricentennial Pavilion, there have been particular trends that have arisen - two of those being National U's luck and the University of the Philippines' misfortune.
READ: 'QPav curse' seems real for UP - and this other UAAP team
Of course, more than a few pointed to tangible things to explain the phenomenon, even laughably suggesting that the Bulldogs have free use of QPav due to head coach Jeff Napa's close ties with Growling Tigers shot-caller Pido Jarencio - with the latter being the former's boss over at Terrafirma.
Winless through three tries in the venue entering Saturday, however, the Fighting Maroons threw caution to the wind and pulled out all the stops to turn the tides.
State U student managers brought bags of salt which were then spread all over players' jerseys and shoes, as well as the baselines and sidelines of the court. Certain staff of the school's athletics department also had holy water with them, as the team coincidentally unveiled its brand new kits that were deviations from those it wore in its first three games, two of which wound up in defeat.
All these were requests from the players themselves, as no stone was left unturned to help UP's cause to finally get the QPav monkey off its back.
UP fights together
At the end of the day, however, the Fighting Maroons themselves can only control what they control - and starting from the 6:18 mark of the third quarter, that's exactly what they did.
"Yung mga adjustment namin nung halftime… Since (NU) is a heavy ball-screen team, what's important was for everybody to be involved. We did a better job in the second half of being in the same page," said assistant coach Christian Luanzon.
Down 34-47 then, the maroon-and-green flipped the switch and outscored NU 24-3 in the next 13 minutes to, all of a sudden, go ahead, 58-50.
Not long after, UP got to celebrate on the black-and-gold court for the first time - and more importantly, scored its second straight win following an 0-2 start to its title defense in UAAP Season 88.
READ: UP finally solves QPav riddle to strike NU down for first time in UAAP Season 88
Francis Nnoruka and Gani Stevens were the only players in double-digits with 14 and 10, respectively, but the Fighting Maroons got contributions from up and down their roster, whether from Harold Alarcon or Migs Yniguez.
And as a team, they tightened the noose on defense, forcing the Bulldogs into missing 23 of their 29 attempts from the field in the second half.
As the UAAP transitions away from Espana and to the usual venues such as Araneta Coliseum and Mall of Asia Arena, as well as the newly renovated Blue Eagle Gym in Ateneo, the Fighting Maroons can rest assured that QPav is now much friendlier to them.
Whether or not there was a curse, they did anything and everything in their power to change the narrative - the most central being staying and playing together.
Superstitions are hard to believe, and even harder to explain, so for its part, UP will just continue to control what it can control.
"We're just continuing to build, kahit na we started the season already. Every practice, every game for us is a continuing opportunity to get better," said Luanzon, echoing the signature sentiments of head coach Goldwin Monteverde.
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph
NOTICE ON UNAUTHORIZED AND UNLAWFUL USE, PUBLICATION, AND/OR DISSEMINATION OF SPIN.PH CONTENT: Please be notified that any unauthorized and unlawful use, publication, and/or dissemination of Spin.ph’s content and/or materials is a direct violation of its legal and exclusive rights to the same, and shall be subject to appropriate legal action/s.
