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The UP Fighting Maroons overcome a sluggish start against the Adamson Soaring Falcons to remain on top of the UAAP Season 87 men’s basketball standings
MANILA, Philippines – Unstoppable to start the UAAP Season 87 men’s basketball tournament, the UP Fighting Maroons faced their first real test of adversity and aced it.
Down 22 points in the second quarter, UP came back and downed the Adamson Soaring Falcons, 69-57, to preserve its unbeaten streak on Saturday, September 28, at the Mall of Asia Arena.
“We in the team usually talk about how we respond to the challenge, and I believe for this game, we responded well,” Maroons head coach Goldwin Monteverde said after the game.
“We are well aware that we should not underestimate any team in the UAAP since we know that all teams here are well-coached,” he added.
“Good thing, we had good composure and responded well.”
Adamson soared to a 31-9 lead in the early second quarter, but the Maroons — through an injection of effort from their bench — closed the first half on an 18-2 run to cut their deficit to 27-33 by halftime.
The second half was a canvas that UP painted all maroon, completely controlling the last 20 minutes of action.
Following JD Cagulangan’s jumper that gave the team a 44-43 lead, the Falcons tried to go toe-to-toe, but eventually fizzled out by the payoff period.
UP led by as many as 16 in the fourth, 63-47 as Harold Alarcon and Terrence Fortea finished with 14 and 13 points, respectively.
Quentin Millora-Brown also hustled hard with 11 points and 14 rebounds for the Maroons, who improved to 5-0 in the standings.
“We’re not going to put our minds in our undefeated situation but rather tackle what’s on our plate for now,” said Monteverde.
“The Adamson game is over with and work on what we view (on tape) what happened on this game, and work on that against UST (on Wednesday).”
UP’s bench carried the majority of the scoring load with 51 points, 20 more than the Falcons.
Mathew Montebon and Jhon Calisay each chipped in 12 points as Adamson sank to 3-3.
The Scores
UP 69 – Alarcon 14, Fortea 13, Millora-Brown 11, Cagulangan 9, Lopez 6, Felicilda 4, Bayla 3, Torculas 3, Belmonte 2, Briones 2, Ududo 2, Abadiano 0, Walker 0, Stevens 0.
Adamson 57 – Montebon 12, Calisay 12, Erolon 8, Anabo 6, Ojarikre 6, Fransman 5, Manzano 4, Mantua 2, Yerro 2, Alexander 0, Ronzone 0, Ramos 0, Barasi 0.
Quarters: 9-26, 27-33, 51-46, 69-57.
– Rappler.com
