UP coach Perasol not focused on standings as race to Final Four heats up

Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

When University of the Philippines snatched a victory over Far Eastern University on Saturday, the Fighting Maroons also boosted their chances of barging into the Final Four.

The Fighting Maroons tied the Tamaraws for the fourth spot with a 5-6 record, a major morale booster heading into the last four games of the UAAP Season 80 men’s basketball tournament.

All the potential intricacies, though, are far from UP head coach Bo Perasol’s mind with the Fighting Maroons more concerned with just simply winning the game that’s next on their schedule.

“In fact we’re not thinking and we’re not talking about the standings,” said Perasol in Filipino at Mall of Asia Arena. “It will give us undue pressure so we just talk about enjoying the game and making sure we’ll have a chance.”

And UP’s path to its fifth win involved erasing a 10-point deficit, 49-39, midway through the fourth quarter against the Tamaraws.

Jun Manzo capped off the Fighting Maroons’ 17-4 run with a floater that gave UP a 56-53 lead with 38 seconds left in the game.

And although Jasper Parker tied the game with 32.9 seconds remaining, Paul Desiderio delivered another clutch triple with 1.1 seconds left that eventually gave UP the victory.

“This was a morale-boosting win for us, these struggles are the things we need to experience for us to grow,” said Perasol. “The most important thing is that we have a a goal in mind and that is to uplift our program.”