UAAP: JD Cagulangan makes immediate impact in UP return

UP Fighting Maroons’ JD Cagulangan returns to action in the UAAP Season 87 men’s basketball tournament. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines—JD Cagulangan finally returned to action for  University of the Philippines and what better way to do it than with a win.

The floor general, who missed in the tail-end of the UAAP Season 87 men’s basketball’s first round, immediately made an impact in his comeback.

“With JD, of course, his impact for us is really big,” said coach Goldwin Monteverde after their 83-73 win at Araneta Coliseum on Sunday.

READ: UAAP: Cagulangan sidelined but still makes presence felt for UP

“With his leadership and having him back, we’re all happy and we would always want our team members to be able to play and express themselves. His help will always be there but as a team, we’re just very happy that he’s back.”

Cagulangan found his stride right away with nine points, four assists and two steals in 15 limited minutes to help UP tie with La Salle for the first seed with a 7-1 record while dropping UST to a 4-4 card.

READ: UAAP: Harold Alarcon, UP guards step up with Cagulangan out

A lion’s share of UP’s win could be credited to the return of their leader in Cagulangan.

“Like I’ve been saying in the first round, we have to be consistent while responding to the challenge at hand. Like in that first half, we’ve been forcing UST to miss shots most of the time while controlling the offensive rebounds,” said Monteverde.

“I think the team [with JD] worked together to control the rebounds in the second half,” the top coach added.

Cagulangan also flaunted his defense anew as he made UST key cog Forthsky Padrigao struggle, finishing with just five points after making just two out of his 11 shots from the field.