FOR once, University of the Philippines had the luxury to play with its prey and was not punished for it.
Playing without pressure against a cellar-dwelling foe, the Fighting Maroons coasted to a 25-point rout over University of Santo Tomas, 76-51, to close the first round of the UAAP Season 85 men's basketball tournament on Saturday at Ynares Center in Antipolo.
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Terrence Fortea shot 3-of-5 from deep and finished with 14 points, three assists, three rebounds, and three steals, while Zavier Lucero collected 12 points, five boards, five steals, four assists, and three blocks as they ignited UP's fast start, using a 14-2 opener to set the tone for the blowout.
Carl Tamayo was happy to pick his spots as he finished with nine points in nine minutes in the contest as coach Goldwin Monteverde gave much playing time to his relievers.
UST still made things interesting late, using a 20-3 run to rally from a 28-point deficit, 57-29, to cut the lead down to 11, 60-49, with 5:55 remaining, but Fortea, Tamayo, and Lucero nipped that uprising in the bud and restored order for UP.
The Fighting Maroons took their third straight win to go up to a 6-1 slate.
Malick Diouf and the Maroons prove to much for the struggling Tigers.
"From our first game to definitely yung last game namin today, we really improved a lot on how we start the game. I think we just have to work on yung consistency namin, on how we start," said Monteverde.
"Whatever happened nung first round, we would work on it as a team."
Adama Faye made his comeback from a one-game suspension and poured 15 points, 13 rebounds, and two blocks, but that still couldn't stop the Growling Tigers from suffering their sixth straight defeat to sink to 1-6.
Nic Cabanero shot 6-of-17 from the field for his 14 points and six boards but had five of UST's 26 turnovers in the game.
The scores:
UP 76 - Fortea 14, Lucero 12, Abadiano 9, Tamayo 9, Andrews 7, Alarcon 5, Diouf 4, Spencer 3, Ramos 3, Eusebio 3, Lina 2, Calimag 2, Galinato 2, Gonzales 1, Torculas 0.
UST 51 - Faye 15, Cabanero 14, Lazarte 5, Calimag 5, Duremdes 3, Mantua 3, Manalang 2, Magdangal 2, Escobido 2, Pangilinan 0, Manaytay 0, Garing 0, Herrera 0, Gesalem 0.
Quarterscores: 19-8; 38-24; 58-37; 76-51.
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