Maroons resume journey to top and seal Bulldogs’ place at the bottom

Goldwin Monteverde emphasizes the importance of being healthy. —AUGUST DELA CRUZ .

University of the Philippines (UP) guns for a fourth straight win when it battles cellar-dwelling National University (NU) where, depending on the result of an earlier game at the resumption on Sunday of Season 87 UAAP men’s basketball tournament eliminations, the Fighting Maroons can end the day with the second twice-to-beat incentive in the bag.

That can happen if Far Eastern U pulls out a win over University of the East (UE) in the noon game as the race for the remaining two slots in the Final Four heats up. The UP vs. National game is slated at 3 p.m.

“Each game would be a stepping stone for us to get better,” said UP coach Goldwin Monteverde of their last four games in the eliminations, where they meet defending champion La Salle for the second time in a few weeks.

“The important thing is for us to be healthy [for the rest of the tournament] and for us to keep on improving,” Monteverde said after destroying Ateneo, 75-47, last Wednesday in the latest installment of the “Battle of Katipunan” that the Maroons swept for the fourth time.

Chasing the champs

The Maroons are chasing La Salle for No. 1 ranking, and Monteverde would like his charges to gather so much steam heading into their return match.

“Since Day 1, our hunger has always been there,” Monteverde said. “Whatever happens, as long as we just do our best to be ready and focus on our upcoming games and how we adjust to it, that’s what’s important to us.”

Sitting in last place with a 2-8 record, National, a formidable program in the previous years that actually came close to winning it all, needs to sweep its last four games and hope that the No. 4 team doesn’t get to seven wins to force a playoff for the last Final Four berth.

After an impressive five-game winning streak, UE has struggled in its last three assignments, with the lowest point being a 45-37 loss to Adamson last Wednesday.

And against the Tamaraws, the Red Warriors won’t be earning a break with Far Eastern also playing that same hard-nosed brand typical of the style of former Alaska import Sean Chambers.

Far Eastern bowed to University of Santo Tomas, 70-79, after back-to-back wins to start the second round. The Tamaraws are trailing the fourth-running Growling Tigers (5-6) by one-and-a-half games.

In the women’s division, NU shoots for its 10th straight victory and act as executioner to UP at 6:30 p.m., while FEU and UE collide at noon.