Maroons back as UAAP hoops kings

UP Fighting Maroons celebrate after beating the La Salle Green Archers in Game 3 of the UAAP Season 87 men’s basketball Finals. —Marlo Cueto/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines — There has never been a lack of motivation on the part of University of the Philippines (UP) to reclaim the UAAP men’s basketball championship—starting from Finals losses the last two seasons and that Game 2 meltdown just four nights ago.

“From the start of this season, after we lost last year, every day they worked for it,” UP coach Goldwin Monteverde said, minutes after the final buzzer of a 66-62 Game 3 victory over La Salle sounded on Sunday night that had the Fighting Maroons returning to glory in front of a collegiate basketball game record of 25,248 screaming souls at Smart Araneta Coliseum.

READ: UP hero JD Cagulangan ends stint with UAAP Finals MVP award

“I am very thankful, especially to the young (players),” he added. “Even during the course of the season, [during] our ups and downs [they continued working]. I’m very proud of each and everyone in our team.”

Francis Lopez, the heel why the Maroons failed to wrap it up last Wednesday, redeemed himself in a huge way. The athletic forward drained the triple that extinguished the last of the defending champion Green Archers’ fightbacks, 64-60, on the way to finishing with 12 points and 11 rebounds.

“From my teammates and coaches, I wanna first of all thank them for still believing in me after the Game 2 loss,” Lopez, who missed four charities and had a crucial blunder in the stretch the last time, said. “It was really a huge loss, especially for me.

“I let the team down in that game, but [that pushed me] to work on my shots, work on my confidence and I am just really happy,” he went on. “It’s a surreal feeling, and this is my first time officially to win a championship in my entire life.”

UP did not crumble down the stretch this time and played out a disciplined offense that kept the Archers within arm’s length.

Quentin Millora-Brown, the one-and-done big man recruited for inside muscle, hit two free throws to round out scoring and ignite a crazy celebration in the stands among the UP faithful.

“It’s amazing to be able to end our season with a (championship),” Millora-Brown said. “So few people can say that they ended their season on a win and it’s just something that I’ll always look back at and smile.”

The other cog on his way out of Diliman after this season, point guard JD Cagulangan, also had a huge hand in the win, finishing with 12 points before being named the Finals MVP.