Fighting Maroons: No way to go but UP

MANILA, Philippines — It was 32 years in the making and when the fightingest of the UP Maroons finally returned to the UAAP finals, they did it with the sweetest  of kills with a sweep of the Adamson Falcons yesterday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

And they pulled this off in such a dramatic fashion against an Adamson side many expected to make it all the way to the Last-Dance, eking out a nerve-wracking 89-87 overtime victory in a Final Four rubber match that had epic all over it in front of a 20,944-strong crowd at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Paul Desiderio, the UP gunner who famously coined the fighting mantra “Atin To,” played true to his words and knocked down a big- time trey and jumper in the last 41.3 seconds of extra time to cap an 11-3 windup that enabled the Maroons to erase a six-point deficit and steal the biggest win of all.

Better believe it, the Maroons, erstwhile cellar dweller and butt of jokes, are in the UAAP Finals in Season 81, besting the more fancied teams in earning the right to challenge top-seeded defending champion Ateneo for the crown starting Saturday.

“When you want to go in a place like this, know that this is not an easy place,” said an emotional UP coach Bo Perasol, whose wards had hurdled three must-win and do-or-die situations to get to this stage. 

“The road isn’t easy; you have to find the courage, the skills, talents and persistence to be in a place like this that we’re enjoying right now. It wasn’t an easy journey but it’s all worth it,” he said.

Carrying the momentum from their 73-71 win in the first game, the Maroons kept the Falcons on the back foot for nearly three quarters and enjoyed a 60-44 spread. But the Falcons regained their groove and wrested the lead entering the fourth, 64-64 before a roller-coaster affair ensued with Jerom Lastimosa drilling a huge triple off the glass to force the extra period.

The Falcons opened overtime with six unanswered points capped by Lastimosa’s three-pointer but the Maroons refused to roll over, turning to Juan Gomez de Liano, Diego Dario, Bright Akhuetie and Desiderio for the clincher that ended 32 years of missing the finals.

“I kept encouraging them after that three points by Lastimosa that it wasn’t over yet; it’s just six points and if we can get two points at a time, we’ll have a chance and in the end, we did have a very good chance and made the most of it,” said Perasol.

Gomez de Liano, who torched Adamson with 20 in the first half, paced the Maroons with 30 while Desiderio (16-11) and Akhuetie (13-17) posted double-double outs to help UP to this ego-booster.

The scores:

UP 89 – Ju. Gomez de Liaño 30, Desiderio 16, Akhuetie 13, Ja. Gomez de Liaño 8, Tungcab 6, Prado 6, Dario 5, Manzo 4, Jaboneta 1, Lim 0, Vito 0.

AdU 87 – Ahanmisi 20, Lastimosa 17, Sarr 16, Camacho 10, Pingoy 7, Manganti 6, Magbuhos V. 6, Espeleta 2, Mojica 2, Bernardo 1.

Quarterscores: 26-16, 51-42, 64-67, 78-78, 89-87