UAAP: Maroons find groove and send Tamaraws packing

Back-to-back losses aren’t the norm for University of the Philippines (UP).

So coming off its first taste of consecutive defeats in the UAAP Season 87 men’s basketball tournament, the Maroons responded accordingly.

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“We aren’t used to losing back-to-back games so we just faced that challenge because basketball isn’t really perfect,” captain Gerry Abadiano said in Filipino after helping UP snap the slide with an 86-78 elimination of Far Eastern University on Saturday at Filoil EcoOil Centre.

“I just [helped] my teammates face those challenges, bounce back and [find] a way to improve every day in practice,” Abadiano added. “We improved, helped each other on the court—that’s the most important thing in this game.”

Overcoming obstacles

Before the match against FEU, UP absorbed a 20-point ripping from National University, 67-47, before being swept by top-seeded rival La Salle, 77-66—deflating losses for a team on its way to the Final Four as a second seed.

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“When a team goes through situations like that and having this kind of [tough] game to face, you can see that everybody’s really fighting hard and trying to overcome whatever comes our way,” coach Goldwin Monteverde said.

“It gets us ready for whatever we will face … and of course on the part of the players, when you go through these kinds of struggles, like in life, it teaches us like whatever circumstance, as long as you keep on fighting, something good will still happen to you,” Monteverde added.

Building momentum

Abadiano led by example and dropped 19 points for the Maroons, who are armed with a twice-to-beat advantage in the playoffs, as UP improved to a 10-3 record after shutting the door on the Tamaraws’ bid.

JD Cagulangan and Francis Lopez each came up with 12 points. Cagulangan also finished with seven rebounds with Aldous Torculas adding 11 points and six rebounds.

“It makes you proud as a coach, especially coming from two losses, seeing the heart of the players the way we started and [how], even through the imperfections of the game, they [tried] to execute at both ends,” Monteverde said.

The Maroons hope to build more momentum heading into the semifinals when they face the University of the East Red Warriors, who are currently on a four-game slide.

“After UE, we will move on to the Final Four and it’s already on our mind how to prepare for that. So in these last two games, for us, these are already part of what we can learn going toward [the semifinals],” Monteverde said.