Marooned Five: UP stuck in familiar terrain

MANILA, Philippines–Tabbed as a Final Four contender with a dark-horse shot at the UAAP Season 73 title, the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons had every reason to brim with optimism this year. But in a first round littered with losses and marred by a coaching controversy, UP was suddenly flung down to familiar territory. Defeats piled up. Pressure mounted. And just when the Maroons felt things couldn’t get any worse, the National U Bulldogs came and dealt UP loss No. 7 Saturday in a way that would make heartbreaking an understatement. Building a seemingly insurmountable 22-point buffer, 43-21, early in the third period, the Maroons looked destined to finally clinch win number one. But fate clearly had other plans, as the Fighting Maroons buckled under vast pressure from the Bulldogs’ relentless rally en route to the 66-70 defeat, their seventh straight in as many games, to end their dreary first round campaign. “Nobody stepped up,” rued UP coach Boyet Fernandez after the game. For exactly 39 minutes and 11.3 ticks of the contest UP held its ground, clinging to a precarious 66-65 edge just under a minute left, only to falter as National University’s Kokoy Hermosisima hit a cold-blooded triple with only 48.7 seconds remaining that left half of the arena stunned.  There were those–and they weren’t merely the ones at the UP side of the coliseum–who held on to the hope that the Maroons could salvage the game. But when the final buzzer sounded, all but the frenzied NU crowd felt the pain. The hope dissipated while the torment continued. UP Guard Mark Lopez sat still on their bench while Miggy Maniego stayed on the floor, both stunned by the biggest meltdown of the season. There were several players even reduced to tears. Dissecting the defeat was easy for Fernandez, citing the lack of a go-to-guy when things got tough after Woody Co’s fouling out in the second half with UP on top, 43-21. “We were ahead but we lost Woody and nobody stepped up to be the leader of the team,” Fernandez said. But dissecting an entire first round? Where does one begin?  After a couple of early losses, the Maroons were hit by a coaching controversy that saw Fernandez taking over from coach Aboy Castro, who left the team under mysterious circumstances. This was supposed to be the third year of Castro’s three-year blueprint, after all. Then there’s Mike Silungan. The Chicago-raised star was supposed to be the backbone of UP’s Final Four run, but he matched his ability to score with a penchant for turnovers. And the Maroons that surrounded him couldn’t play off his talents, making the team’s execution seem forced and overly reliant on one-on-one plays and hurried shots. Against University of the East, whose lone first round victory came against UP, Silungan came out blazing and put the Maroons on track for a victory. But UP failed to find anybody else who could match King Warrior Paul Lee in the clutch. Still, this was supposed to be the strongest UP squad assembled since the late 90s, when the Maroons flaunted the likes of Paolo Mendoza, Ogie Gumatay and Brian Gahol. Maybe the mentality cultured by all those losing seasons continues to weigh down the Maroons. And that defeat to NU may have provided the biggest proof to back that reason. “Actually it’s so hard for my players to take, they are already thinking about 0-14,” Fernandez said.  “It’s in the back of their minds that they don’t want to be at 0-14 but when the other team is rallying, they’re always reverting to it,” he added. If there’s any optimism left in the UP campaign, a bulk of it can be found inside Fernandez, the gutsy former pro playmaker who believes he can quash that losing mentality and turn the Maroons’ season around. “It only takes one win,” said Fernandez. “I told my players that they showed them what you can do, now we know that we are capable of building a 20-point lead, it’s just a matter of finishing the ball game when the opponent is rallying back,” added the former champion coach in the PBA. Just before the school anthems were played Saturday, Fernandez gathered his troops on the court and voiced out that message to his players, adding that “there’s still seven games to play” and trying to squeeze out positives from the emotional loss.