Curtains rise for UP-La Salle III

MANILA, Philippines — Titleholder University of the Philippines and La Salle waltz in another Last Dance, disputing the ultimate prize as the UAAP’s best.

As bumpy as their campaigns early on, the stars have aligned after all, paving the way for a rare trilogy starting with the championship opener in the UAAP Season 88 men’s basketball at the Mall of Asia Arena today.

War erupts at 4 p.m. between opposing forces clad in Maroon and Green before an expected sellout crowd in the opener of the third installment of a brewing rivalry which split the crowns in the last two seasons.

Last season’s champ UP, in its fifth straight finals, eyes a second straight crown and fifth overall, while La Salle, winner of Season 86, seeks redemption for an 11th title. The Green Archers are in their 19th finals appearance – the most in the league.

But as epic and pressure-packed the trilogy narrative is, UP coach Goldwin Monteverde urges his wards to focus on one thing that matters – themselves.

“As we always do, ang unang iisipin namin ay ‘yung sarili namin. Ang focus namin ay ‘yung mga lapses namin. Whatever happens, kailangan tuloy-tuloy lang ‘yung pag-improve namin. ‘Yun lang talaga mindset namin,” he said as UP shook off a slow start in the season to still make it to the finals.

UP, after losing Finals MVP JD Cagulangan and Quentin Millora-Brown, started at 0-2 before slowly but surely hitting fine form, then getting a run capped by an 82-81 escape act against Santo Tomas in the semis.

Led by Harold Alarcon, Gerry Abadiano and Francis Nnoruka, the Fighting Maroons had a twice-to-beat incentive as the No. 2 seed like the top-ranked National U Bulldogs, who, on the other hand, fell to an ambush by the fourth-ranked Archers.

Like UP, La Salle had a flat start at 2-3 and was pushed to the brink with injuries to Kean Baclaan and Mason Amos before getting its act together.

The Green Archers had a four-game winning streak midway in the elims, stumbled and had another late run, punctuated by a 78-72 victory over archrival Ateneo Blue Eagles to catch the last bus to the Final Four, where they erased the Bulldogs’ twice-to-beat edge, 87-77 and 78-73.

La Salle then welcomed back Amos and Baclaan.