MANILA – University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons booked a return trip to the finals after an 89-77 victory over Far Eastern University Tamaraws in the FilOil EcoOil 17th ECJ Preseason Cup semifinals at the FilOil EcoOil Arena in San Juan.
Francis Lopez exploded in the second half to finish with 22 points and seven rebounds, earning the Player of the Game honors as the Fighting Maroons moved closer to completing their title-retention bid.
Holding to a slim 53-48 halftime lead, the Fighting Maroons opened the third quarter with a huge run behind Lopez, Sean Alter, and Chicco Briones to establish a 67-51 advantage.
The Tamaraws countered with a run to cut the deficit to 69-72, but the Fighting Maroons answered with connections from Lopez, JD Cagulangan and Harold Alarcon to extend the lead to 88-72 with under two minutes left.
“In a game like this, it’s important ‘yung consistency na ‘yun would apply to every quarter, every play, and every half,” said Fighting Maroons assistant coach Christian Luanzon.
“So we wanna value each possession offensively and defensively, we wanna make sure that if the opponent makes a basket, we wanna make it as hard as possible for them,” he added.
Meanwhile, De La Salle University Green Archers survived a late surge from the Colegio de San Juan de Letran Knights for a 91-87 victory and set up a finals rematch with the Fighting Maroons.
Comfortably ahead at 80-56 after a basket by Earl Abadam with eight minutes left, the Green Archers were stunned by a massive fight back by the Knights, cutting the deficit to 87-90 on a three-pointer by Jovel Baliling with 8.1 seconds left.
The Green Archers, however, wrapped up the victory with a split free throw from Lian Ramiro with two seconds remaining in the game.
Jonnel Policarpio finished with 19 points, nine rebounds, and five assists in 25 minutes of action to be named Player of the Game for the Green Archers./PN
