UP’s RC Calimag leads the Fighting Maroons’ beatdown of St. Benilde. –FILOIL PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines–Despite winning by a wide margin, University of the Philippines knows it still has still has a long way to go defense-wise.
The Fighting Maroons scored a 117-61 drubbing of the College of St. Benilde in Group A of the Filoil EcoOil Preseason Cup at Filoil EcoOil Arena on Tuesday.
“It was our most dominant game in recent history but there are still obviously things we need to work on, especially on defense. At times people are lost and not communicating as well as they should be,” Fighting Maroons assistant coach Mo Gingerich said after the game.
The Maroons turned the ball over 15 times and registered 24 team fouls at the end of the game.
Still, UP’s stellar field goal percentage more than made up for the occasional fumbles.
The Blazers still stuck close with the Maroons, 21-18, at the end of the first quarter. However, UP mounted a 30-12 in the second frame and never looked back, leading by as much as 58, 113-56, in the payoff period.
Up by 21 at halftime, 51-30, UP came out firing with 10 unanswered points which ballooned to a 29-9 run to more than double St. Benilde’s output, 80-39.
RC Calimag spearheaded UP’s win with 21 points while Henry Galinato and Carl Tamayo scored 16 and 14, respectively.
Will Gozum was the sole double-digit scorer for St. Benilde with 17.