MANILA – University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons forward Francis “LeBron” Lopez took responsibility for his costly mistakes in the final moments of their 76-75 Game 2 loss to De La Salle University Green Archers in UAAP Season 87 men’s basketball Finals.
The Filipino-Angolan forward acknowledged his crucial errors and expressed his commitment to learn from them as the Fighting Maroons look to secure their second UAAP title in four seasons in the do-or-die Game 3 on Sunday night.
“There’s no excuse. I just missed them. Can’t do anything but move on and still have a Game 3, still have another opportunity. Just gonna be focused on that,” Lopez told the media after the game.
With the Green Archers holding a slim 76-75 lead and under a minute left, Lopez missed four crucial free throws that could have given the Fighting Maroons the lead.
After two missed free throws by DLSU’s Michael Phillips, Lopez grabbed the rebound but misfired a pass to JD Cagulangan, resulting in a turnover.
With 12 seconds left, and after missed free throws by DLSU’s Kevin Quiambao, Lopez dribbled the ball at midcourt before feeding it to Cagulangan for a rushed last-second attempt.
“I believe we didn’t have any timeouts. We didn’t call any timeouts at the end; we were just looking for the open man. I had turnovers; we just couldn’t get it to Maimai, and that’s about it,” Lopez explained on UP’s last play.
Fighting Maroons head coach Goldwyn Monteverde, for his part, refused to pin the blame on Lopez for their endgame meltdown that denied them a coronation on Wednesday night.
“I guess mga ganon na missed free throws or missed shots, it’s part of the game. As I said, we did our best to try to execute the offense. Ganon naman talaga ang basketball, miss or make lang yan,” Monteverde said.
“Importante lang right now from here is kung paano kami magba-bounce back, pag-uusapan namin kung paano gagawin, and be ready for the next game,” the one-time UAAP champion coach added./PN
