UNIVERSITY of the Philippines held off a pesky University of the East squad to pull off a 84-77 victory on Wednesday in the UAAP Season 85 men's basketball tournament at the Mall of Asia Arena.
The Fighting Maroons turned to their shock troopers who responded with a 15-3 blast bridging the last two frames to erect a 69-58 lead with 6:13 to go.
That cushion came in handy when CJ Payawal hit back-to-back treys and a Nikko Paranada scored on a drive to cut UP's lead down to three, 80-77, in the last 15.3 seconds.
Malick Diouf, though, was a cool customer on the line as he canned two freebies in the final 14.4 ticks to stretch the UP lead to five, 82-77
Unfortunately, Kyle Paranada uncharacteristically missed two on the other end as Alarcon put the finishing touches to the Fighting Maroons' great escape that put an end to the Warriors' rare two-game win run.
"Sa team, yung first group pag di nila makuha yung game, it's good to know that somebody has their backs on the bench and ready to step up to the situation," said coach Goldwin Monteverde, who drew 30 points from his bench.
Terrence Fortea pumped in 13 points on 3-of-9 shooting from beyond the arc, alongside five assists and two rebounds as UP gained a share of the lead with back-to-back victories at 5-1.
Gerry Abadiano also provided support with his 13 points and two boards to make up for the absence of JD Cagulangan.
Carl Tamayo had 13 points, seven rebounds, and four steals before suffering a sprained ankle in the final minute.
Payawal drained five three-pointers to lead the Red Warriors with 21 points and five rebounds. Nikko Paranada added 20 points, five assists, and three boards, as Luis Villegas had 10 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, two steals, and two blocks in the loss that pulled UE down to a 3-3 record.
The scores:
UP 84 - Tamayo 13, Fortea 13, Abadiano 13, Diouf 8, Spencer 7, Lucero 7, Gonzales 7, Calimag 5, Galinato 4, Ramos 3, Alarcon 2, Lina 2, Torculas 0.
UE 77 - Payawal 21, N. Paranada 20, Villegas 10, Pagsanjan 9, K. Paranada 9, Stevens 3, Antiporda 3, Sawat 2, Beltran 0, Alcantara 0, Remogat 0.
Quarters: 18-13, 38-41, 59-56, 84-77.
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph