YET again, UAAP Season 88 defending champion University of the Philippines was pushed to the limit last Saturday, backed into a corner at UST Quadricentennial Pavilion, this time against erstwhile unbeaten National U.
The see-saw affair saw the Fighting Maroons struggle from the field in the first two and a half quarters, with the Bulldogs impressively shutting down the likes of Rey Remogat and Gerry Abadiano.
Down 34-47 at the 6:18 mark of the third quarter, State U shot-caller Goldwin Monteverde sent in Migs Yniguez - his first-year forward who had played in two of their first three games, averaging seven minutes and missing all three of his attempts.
Once back on the QPav floor, which had long been the stuff of nightmares for the maroon-and-green and its faithful, he delivered eight points, a rebound, and a steal.
In his nine minutes of play, Yniguez was the shot in the arm UP needed to jumpstart a massive 24-3 tear that ultimately led to its second straight win.
"I wanna commend Migs din for just staying ready. Played less than 10 minutes, didn't see action in the first half, but he made big shots for us," said assistant coach Christian Luanzon.
At the same time, with the 20-year-old Fil-Am providing quality minutes, they got to rest Gani Stevens, who then scored six points in the final frame to help break their 'QPav Curse.'
READ: How did UP break 'QPav curse?' Good old-fashioned total team effort
“Getting wins like that is huge,” he told SPIN.ph. “I mean, especially against an undefeated team, the wins like that will only add to our confidence. Every great team goes through losses and it’s good for us to go through it now.”
Ready already
Still, even after a good shooting night, Yniguez is more than willing to contribute to winning in whatever way he can, saying, “I just try to do the best I can every time I sub into the floor, try to give my team my all.”
“If that means playing defense and not shooting, or shooting shots and playing defense, I try to bring it every time I sub in,” he added.
And with the Fighting Maroons only having a 2-2 record so far, a lot more slugfests are in order. Luckily for them, their San Diego, California native is ready - anytime, every time.
As he put it, “If I’m gonna be called upon, then I’ll give the team my all. If I’m not called upon, so be it. I trust the coaches, I trust the game plan.”
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