Marata shoots UP to its first Filoil win

Tata Marata. Filoil facebook page photo

MANILA, Philippines—Tata Marata and Raul Soyud scored 17 points apiece as University of the Philippines logged its first win after beating Jose Rizal University, 75-63, Wednesday in the Filoil Flying V Hanes Premier Cup at the Arena in San Juan.

The Fighting Maroons used a 14-2 run to pull away from the Heavy Bombers with Marata and Soyud leading the way.

“It wasn’t easy. We have a virtually new team and what we’re going through is part of the process of becoming a team and getting the experience before we hit the UAAP,” said UP coach Ricky Dandan.

“This is our first win in Filoil, we had a lot of close games however that’s the past and we charge that experience already we have learned from those mistakes and hopefully this win can propel us to better things,” Dandan added.

UP led by just one, 60-59, before the pivotal surge. Back-to-back baskets by Soyud made it a six-point game, 65-59, before a Marata’s fourth triple of the game widened the gap to nine, 68-59, with 5:57 remaining.

“Since I last played, it’s been a long time and it feels good to be back,” said Marata, a former UP Integrated School standout before playing his early college years in De La Salle. “It’s still different to play for Maroon pride. It feels good to get our first win in this league.”

“Tata has Maroon blood in him. Umuwi lang siya. He’s a winner and he’s a fighter. He’s going to be there but we need to support him,” said Dandan of his forward. “Tata will be a marked man. I like how he’s progressing and he will be a vital cog this season.”

The Maroons, who improved to 1-6, also got a lift from Julius Wong.

Wong scored 16 points, including four straight points, that capped off UP’s run, 74-61, with only 1:26 left.

Paolo Pontejos paced JRU, which dropped into a tie with UP and Perpetual Help at the bottom of Group A standings with identical 1-6 slates, with 11 points on a four-of-15 shooting from the field.