Maroons fend off late Eagles’ rally to avenge first round loss and send mighty Ateneo to a losing streak

Sean Torculas rams this one home to downplay early dominance of UP, before the Maroons had to outsteady the Eagles in the stretch. —UAAP PHOTO

University of the Philippines was not in the mood to allow Ateneo another ego-boosting chance by holding down the Blue Eagles in the wild and wooly stretch Sunday as the Fighting Maroons again laid claim to a familiar place in the UAAP Season 86 men’s basketball tournament.

The Maroons blew a double-digit lead early in the fourth and were dragged to a you-or-me endgame, only for their resolve and maturity to come to play as they carved out a 65-60 win in front of 17,406 animated souls at Smart Araneta Coliseum for the solo lead.

It was quite a way for the Maroons to get back at the Eagles for their only loss of the season thus far, something coach Goldwin Monteverde said was borne out of sheer hard work and mental toughness.

“I felt we were more patient offensively and our defense held up (in the stretch),” Monteverde said in Filipino after his Maroons rose to 8-1, while dooming the Blue Eagles to their first losing streak of the season for 4-5, now tied with Adamson for fourth spot.

“We prepared for several days just for this game,” Gerry Abadiano, who finished with 22 points on 46.7 percent shooting, said in Filipino. “We really gave it our all for this game. We all know that we lost in the first round, and that was painful.”

No outright finalist

Ateneo gutted out a 99-89 overtime win last week that denied the Maroons a first round sweep and possible outright passage into the finals.

Francis Lopez, Harold Alarcon and Malick Diouf contributed 10 points each. Lopez also added seven rebounds and Diouf also pulled down 17 rebounds.

The Eagles tried valiantly to overturn a double-digit deficit in the fourth quarter using a 12-0 run instigated by Jared Brown and Kai Ballungay to tie it all up at 55.

This is the second straight close defeat for Ateneo after Ljay Gonzales led Far Eastern to a 62-59 nipping of the Eagles last Wednesday.

Adamson, now knowing that it has to go on the rest of the season without star guard Jerom Lastimosa, reignited its Final Four chances earlier with a 63-54 triumph over Far Eastern.

“We’ve been in that situation the whole year. It’s why we are a bit up and down,” said coach Nash Racela, referring to the news that Lastimosa’s collegiate career had actually ended with a confirmed ACL tear. “It will be hard. Jerom Lastimosa’s [role] will be hard to fill, but it will be a collective effort for the team from player No. 1 to No. 15. We need all the positive contributions that they can give,” he went on after his Falcons snapped the Tamaraws’ giant-killing spree.

“I am sure our players are up to the challenge,” Racela said after claiming a tie for No. 4 spot because of the Ateneo loss.

Lastimosa, who was given clearance to play only to reinjure his knee in his comeback game against UP, had opted to complete his collegiate career by declining lucrative offers elsewhere. But with his last UAAP dance coming to an abrupt end, his focus will now be solely on graduating this semester.

The spitfire guard, despite worsening his injury, has yet to set a date for his operation.

And he has a reason for that.

“He wants to sing (the school hymn) inside the court in Adamson’s last game for this season … to sing with the community as his last dance for his collegiate career,” Aldrin Suan, the school’s athletic moderator, revealed.

Joshua Yerro and Joem Sabandal led the Falcons with 11 and 10 points, respectively. INQ