MANILA, Philippines – It isn’t what people expect, but the University of the Philippines fighting Maroons seem to have found their groove with Bright Akhuetie, Javi Gomez De Liaño and Kobe Paras.
The three combined for 43 points (each scored in double digits), 18 boards, seven assists, four steals and four blocks in a 62-56 win over the University of the East.
Akhuetie and Javi have been constant for much of their first three matches but the trio have been consistent these past two wins for them. Paras carried them in the crunch with key stops and buckets.
Some quarters say that UP has been lucky. At one point, UE was down by 13, 40-27, but they came within one, 53-52, behind Alex Diakhite and Nick Abanto. But that missed triple by Rey Suerte, the turnover by Diakhite, and the unsportsmanlike foul called on Jojo Antiporda really hurt.
Still UP left a window open with Akhuetie losing the ball and missing shots. UE missed their last six attempts leaving them scoreless in the last 1:47. I wouldn’t really say at that stretch, it was UP’s defense. UE was just missing.
Again, Paras was huge down the stretch and that assist on the JD Tungcab trey was a killer.
Nevertheless, it is better for UP be lucky as they grope for form and still win. Wait until they hit their stride and find that balance.The Fighting Maroons, along with Ateneo and UST, are looking very good at this point and should crowd for a title run.
After that big win over La Salle during the middle of the week, UE came crashing back to earth with the loss. Only Alex Diakhite played well enough. Nick Abanto and Neil Tolentino had their spurts in the game but with Rey Suerte struggling (2-15 on 13% shooting from the field), it was difficult for them.
UE had only seven free throw attempts while UP was awarded 26. That okayed into the final outcome as well.
For La Salle’s big 68-61 win over Adamson, that was a huge triple by Andrei Caracut late in their shot clock that gave them a 66-61 lead with 35 seconds to play.
Val Chauca, who has repeatedly played the hero for Adamson this season, threw the ball away after a time out. Then an unsportsmanlike foul called on Joshua Yerro gave DLSU a six-point lead, 67-61, time down to 26 seconds. They lost the defensive rebound and Caracut hit one more free throw to ice the game.
La Salle badly needed this win to keep their Final Four aspirations alive. This is huge because they have to play UP and UST in succession to end the first round.
Caracut and Lojera played well (as did Brandon Bates) and picked up the slack from Aljun Melecio who struggled in this game.
This puts DLSU at 2-3 while Adamson evens it out at 3-3. Mathematically, six of the eight teams are in the hunt for a Final Four berth. The final matches of the first round will be very interesting to watch.