Maroons get back at Eagles, firm up hold on lead

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UNIVERSITY of the Philippines got back at defending champion Ateneo in a big way last night.

Refusing to wilt in the face of their foes’ furious fourth quarter fightback, the Fighting Maroons turned back the Blue Eagles 65-60 for their second straight win in the 86th UAAP basketball tournament at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Five-foot-11 guard Gerry Abadiano stepped up in the absence of skipper CJ Cansino (under the weather) and JD Cagulangan (hamstring) with 22 points, three rebounds and two assists while Francis Lopez chipped in 10 markers, seven boards, and four dimes.

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In front of 17,406 fans, Harold Alarcon and reigning MVP Malick Diouf also had 10 points each as the Maroons scored a big follow up to their 77-51 shellacking of Adamson University five days back and solidified their hold of the top spot with an 8-1 mark.

Ateneo failed to redeem itself from a heart-rending 59-62 loss to Far Eastern University last Wednesday and slipped to 4-5.

The Eagles eked out a 99-89 overtime triumph over the Maroons in their first-round match last Oct. 22.

Earlier, the Soaring Falcons pulled off a 63-54 victory over the Tamaraws to rediscover their winning ways.

Joshua Yerro showed the way for Adamson with 11 points, while Joem Sabandal added 10 markers.

John Calisay also added nine points for the Falcons, who improved to 4-5. FEU fell to 3-6.

“Siguro it took a while din para makuha namin iyong rhythm offensively,” UP coach Goldwin Monteverde said. “We were a little bit in a hurry noong first quarter but maganda rito, iyong defense namin, it held up iyong Ateneo.

“I felt that noong huli, we were more patient offensively, we were really executing iyong offense namin and at least nakabalik kami sa game,” he added.

The win seemed to be in the bag for the Maroons after they held a 54-42 spread early in the final stanza before Ateneo unleashed a 12-0 blitz that knotted the count at 54-all with 5:55 remaining.

But Alarcon and Abadiano retaliated with a three-pointer and a jumper, respectively, that pushed UP ahead anew 59-54.

Alarcon’s basket pushed the Maroons’ lead to 62-56 with 45.3 seconds left but Mason Amos pulled the Eagles to within 60-63 with a triple.

Ateneo still had a chance, but Ghanaian center Joseph Obasa missed on a layup with 6.0 ticks to go.

Alarcon’s two free throws put the final nails in the Eagles’ coffin.

Jared Brown paced Ateneo with 18 points, while Obasa and Amos contributed 11 and 10 markers, respectively.

Adamson scored the game’s first 11 points while holding the Tams scoreless in the first seven minutes and two seconds before Jorick Bautista made their first bucket with 2:58 left, making it 2-11.

By the end of the first quarter, the Falcons had already built an 18-7 lead before it fended off a fourth period comeback bid FEU.

“We’re thankful that we won, but we look for consistency in our game,” Adamson tactician Nash Racela, whose troops halted a mini three-game losing skid, said.

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“I think in the fourth quarter we failed again. We were the ones leading pero kami pa iyong na-rattle.”

The win came on the heels of confirmation that Falcons star guard Jerom Lastimosa is done for the season with an ACL tear in his left knee.

“I received the medical record last night, confirming that si Jerom ay may full tear sa ACL,” Adamson athletic director Fr. Aldrin Suan, CM, said, noting that the MRI result only arrived on Saturday evening.

Lastimosa, last season’s PSBankable Player of the Season, was still in high spirits despite ending his collegiate career not the way he wanted to.

“Hindi naman na-pressure kasi ito ay normal lang para sa lahat ng mga atleta. Wala, mag-move on na lang at mag-focus sa susunod na hakbang kung paano ako makakabalik sa laro,” Lastimosa, a native of Dumaguete, Negros Occidental, who is set to graduate with a degree in Sports Management next year, said.

LJ Gonzales scored 18 points and had six assists for FEU, while Jorick Bautista got 13.

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