Maroons live to fight on

They’re indeed the Fighting Maroons.

Still full of fight despite losing a 13-point lead in the third quarter, the University of the Philippines Maroons came back with a closing 8-2 run to nip the Adamson Soaring Falcons, 73-71, on Saturday at Mall of Asia Arena and force a winner-take-all duel for a title slot in Season 81 of the UAAP men’s basketball tournament.

The winner in Wednesday’s do-or-die match at Smart Araneta Coliseum will face Ateneo, which routed Far Eastern University, 80-61, on Sunday to claim the first championship berth.

Juan Gomez de Liaño and   Paul Desiderio carried most of the scoring load for the Maroons with 19  points each before combining to pull off the crucial play that led to the winning undergoal basket by Bright Akhuetie with 2.6 seconds left.

With the count tied at 71, De Liaño executed a perfect inbound pass to Akhuetie, who was free under the boards  as Desiderio screened off Adamson’s big man Papi Sarr. Akhuetie, expected to be named season Most Valuable Player, scored unmolested to finish with just six points.

Sarr fired a game-high 23 points in outshining Akhuetie but the other Adamson stars couldn’t summon the firepower that allowed  them to beat the Maroons back-to-back in the eliminations (69-68 and 80-72) to finish with a second-running 10-4 win-loss record and a twice-to-beat bonus in the Final Four.

UP rallied from a 3-5 tournament start to get into the semifinals as No. 3  due to a higher quotient that decided their 8-6 deadlock with Far Eastern U and La Salle at 8-6.

UP last made the Final Four in 1997, losing to FEU.

Outscoring Adamson 26-14 in the third period, UP took the game’s biggest lead at 54-41 before Sean Manganti and Jerrick Ahanmisi finally found the range in the last period to lift the Falcons ahead at 63-62. Manganti made it 69-65 with  barely two minutes left.

But the Maroons, as the saying goes, did not roll over and die. A four-point rally capped by two De Liaño free throws tied it with 51 seconds remaining.