FILE Photo – UP Fighting Maroons. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
University of the Philippines recovered from its three-game losing streak in the UAAP Season 80 men’s basketball tournament, nipping University of Santo Tomas, 71-69, Wednesday at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The Fighting Maroons had a promising start to the season, going 3-1 but lost their final three games of the first round to fall to 3-4
The win allowed UP to take the no. 5 seed with a 4-4 record, half a game behind Far Eastern University.
Ibrahim Outtara scored on a layup to give UP a 70-64 lead with 1:16 to go but UST managed to score five unanswered points with Lee drilling a three from the left wing to cut the lead to one, 70-69, with 11 seconds remaining in the game.
After a split from the line from point guard Jun Manzo, UST center Steve Akomo secured the rebound for UST with 9.2 seconds left and the Growling Tigers immediately started to run the break.
Marvin Lee then had two attempts to play hero for UST but both of his shots bounced in and out of the rim.
“This is just too difficult for us because we just wanted to get another win after the three losses we had,” said UP head coach Bo Perasol. “This is something that can perk us up, make us believe again that we can still do this.”
Despite the win, the rebounding department was a cause of concern for UP after the UST dominated the rebounds, 61-40.
“Every time we go up against UST, it’s always going to be a classic for us,” said Perasol. “I don’t think that we will be able to outrebound the lineup of UST and true enough we’re outrebounded by 21.”
The Maroons, though, were able to neutralized the Growling Tigers’ advantage by forcing them to 23 turnovers that led to 24 points.
Janjan Jaboneta had 12 points in his first start to pace the Fighting Maroons while Jun Manzo and Paul Desiderio added 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Outtara missed out on a double-double with nine points and 11 rebounds for UP.
Lee had a game-high 17 points to lead UST while Akomo added seven points, 20 rebounds, and four blocks.