MANILA – University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons got back on the winning track with a 67-61 win over De La Salle University Green Archers in the UAAP Season 81 men’s basketball on Sunday at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
Trailing for most of the opening half, the Fighting Maroons leaned on the exploits of Bright Akhuetie and Juan Gomez de Llano to surge to a 61-47 lead.
The Green Archers countered with a scoring run to come to within 60-61 but de Llano came up with clutch hits to increase UP’s lead to 4.
Akhuetie led UP with double-double 19 points and 19 rebounds while de Llano chipped in 17. The Fighting Maroons moved up 2-3.
Justine Baltazar finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds while Aljun Melecio and Leonard Santillan had 12 each for the Green Archers (3-2).
FALCONS’ BEST START
Adamson University Falcons kept their unblemished slate after grinding it out against National University Bulldogs 63-58 at the San Juan Arena.
Sean Manganti continued his impressive showing this season with 14 points while Papi Sarr and Jerrick Ahanmisi added 11 markers apiece for the Falcons, which cruised to 5-0 on Saturday, their best start in years.
But Simon Camacho played a huge role for the Falcons – unloading all of his 8 points in the final quarter to prevent a fight-back from the Bulldogs from succeeding.
With the Falcons up by as much as 14 points early in the game, the Bulldogs countered with a furious run in the fourth frame to trim the deficit to 4. Camacho unloaded consecutive points for a 51-41 Adamson lead.
The Bulldogs made its last push and managed to come to as close as 55-58 late in the match on back-to-back baskets by Reggie Morido and a 3-pointer from Sean Ildefonso.
A basket by Papi Sarr and a split on the free throw line by Manganti extended the Falcons’ lead to 6. The Bulldogs came to within 3 anew after an Ildefonso triple but two free throws by Manganti sealed the win for the Falcons.
“We’re just lucky that we survived that NU ambush,” said Falcons head coach Franz Pumaren. “We made a lot of mistakes. We made it difficult on our part. I guess we’re in this position because our defense was keeping us afloat.”
Ildefonso led the Bulldogs with 14 points on a sour 6-for-16 shooting from the field while Troy Rike chipped in 8 points and 11 boards. Adamson (1-3) had suffered their third straight loss./PN
