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[av_heading heading=’Fighting Maroons ends losing skid in UAAP basketball ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
By ADRIAN STEWART CO
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MANILA – The University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons rallied from an early deficit to score a 71-66 upset over the National University Bulldogs in the UAAP Season 79 men’s basketball tournament at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.
Anton Manuel led the way with 19 points, including a perfect 8-of-8 shooting from the line, for the Maroons, which registered its most wins in a UAAP Season since the 2006.
Angelo Vito chipped in 15 markers, while rookie Juani Gomez De Llano and Paul Desiderio contributed 13 and 11 points, respectively, for the Maroons, which snapped a two-game losing skid.
”We are happy that we have exceeded the three-win goal this season,” said Maroons head coach Dolreich “Bo” Perasol. “We have to count our blessings kasi at the start of the season hindi namin alam kung aabot kami ng four wins.”
Trailing by as much as 21-10 early in the first half, the Maroons made its move in the second frame behind Manuel, Vito and Dave Moralde to come to within 31-29 at halftime on a buzzer-beating triple by Felix Jaboneta.
The Maroons continued its run in the third frame to finally take the lead at 34-31 on a Vito triple. From there, it was a tight exchange between the two teams until the Maroons took a 45-41 lead on a Moralde conversion.
The Maroons pulled to a 54-45 lead early in the fourth frame on baskets by Gomez de Llano and Manuel but the Bulldogs quickly answered back to come to within 54-51 on a free throw by Adven Diputado.
The Maroons, however, went on another run to build its largest lead of the game at 66-52 on a basket by Gomez de Llano. The Bulldogs made its last push to come to within 70-66 but the time was not enough to turn things around.
Rodolfo Alejandro top-scored with 23 points, while Matthew Salem added 12 markers for the Bulldogs, which absorbed its sixth consecutive defeat to slide down to a 4-8 win-loss slate./PN
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