UNIVERSITY of the Philippines stayed unbeaten and dealt National University its first loss of the UAAP Season 86 men’s basketball tournament, 78-60, at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum on Saturday.
Just like last year’s Final Four clash, the Maroons won another fierce battle but did it the hard way after being held to nine first quarter points.
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UP also trailed by nine in a low-scoring first half.
Francis Lopez scored 14 points, seven boards, four dimes, and two steals as UP took the solo lead with a 3-0 win-loss record as NU dropped to 2-1.
“It was a defensive game nu’ng first half. Sustaining ‘yung depensa and at the same time dealing with a team like NU, hindi pwedeng mag-relax ka kahit off the ball and I believe we took care of that kanina,” UP head coach Goldwin Monteverde explained.
“This is a good win for us in terms of siyempre, early on nalalaman namin ‘yung pwede pang i-grow as a team. We’re really happy with this win pero siyempre, we have to think level dahil third game of the season pa lang ‘to and we have to keep improving,” he added.
For the third straight game, Malick Diouf posted a double-double, scoring 12 points and pulling down 13 rebounds.
UP takes on a still-winless FEU side as NU looks to pick up the pace versus another winless team in UST on Wednesday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
The scores:
UP (78) – Lopez 14, Diouf 12, Cansino 12, Alarcon 10, Cagulangan 8, Torres 8, Abadiano 8, Felicilda 3, Pablo 2, Belmonte 1, Torculas 0, Alter 0, Gagate 0, Gonzales 0.
NU (60) – Figueroa 13, John 11, Palacielo 10, Baclaan 9, Yu 5, Malonzo 5, Jumamoy 4, Lim 2, Enriquez 1, Padrones 0, Manansala 0, Casinillo 0.
Quarterscores: 9-13; 30-25; 58-45; 78-60.
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