THEY were in the same situation last year. And they know their foes will not simply lie down and die.
Against this backdrop, University of the Philippines seeks to finish off defending champion La Salle when they square off today in Game 2 of their best-of-3 finals duel for the 87th UAAP basketball tournament crown at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.
The match is set at 5:30 p.m. with the Fighting Maroons raring to wrap up the race-to-2 series and reach the Promised Land anew after losing two in a row to the Ateneo Blue Eagles in 2022 and the Green Archers in the last cage wars.
“We never naman dwell on the past, ano? So right now, as I said, part of the process of winning a championship is, you know, winning Game 1,” UP coach Goldwin Monteverde said. “So we got Game 1 right now so we’re gonna prepare for Game 2.
“So we’re gonna do our best, lahat ng makakaya namin to get it, and when that game day comes, whatever comes our way, we’re gonna face the challenge there,” he added.
Boosted by one-and-done center Quentin Millora-Brown and graduating guard JD Cagulangan, the Maroons banked on a strong third quarter and held La Salle’s reigning MVP Kevin Quiambao to a single point in the second half to fashion a 73-65 victory last Sunday.
It was the Maroons’ fourth consecutive Game 1 finals win.
But La Salle tactician Topex Robinson remained defiant, citing how his team overcame a similar 0-1 deficit in the Big Dance against the same opponent last season.
“The good thing about the team in the dugout was nobody was blaming nobody. We’ve gone this far because of how we really became a united front and we will not let any negativity get in our way. We will play this championship the way we should play, as a big family, hindi naman palagi flowers and rainbows and makikita mo,” Robinson said. “You got to go through those rough patches. It’s just gonna define us as a team, as long as we always do it right, we play right and honor this game that we love, that has always been good to us and we will not be defined by losing a game we have learned that if we lose the next two games.
“What’s important to us is we stick to what we live for we take care of each other, we protect each other, that’s the most important thing.”
A victory by La Salle will send the series to sudden death on Sunday, Dec. 15, at the Smart Araneta Coliseum but UP, for sure, has other plans in mind.
