UP, La Salle to settle unfinished business in UAAP hoops trilogy

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JACOB CORTEZ — UAAP

HAROLD ALARCON — UAAP

Games on Wednesday
(Mall of Asia Arena)
10 a.m. – 16U Boys and Women’s Individual Awarding Ceremonies
11 a.m. – FEU-D vs NUNS (16U Boys)
1 p.m. – NU vs UST (Women)
4 p.m. – UP vs DLSU (Men)

TITLEHOLDER University of the Philippines (UP) and De La Salle University (DLSU) waltz in another Last Dance to settle an unfinished business in an ultimate bid to be crowned as the UAAP’s best.

As bumpy as their campaigns were after winless starts, the stars have aligned after all for a trilogy starting on Wednesday in Game 1 of the UAAP Season 88 men’s basketball finals at the Mall of Asia Arena.

War erupts at 4 p.m. with their armies clad in Maroon and Green in an expected sellout crowd behind for the third installment of brewing rivalry after splitting the crown in the last two seasons.

Last season’s champ UP, in its fifth straight finals, eyes its second straight crown and fifth overall in history, while La Salle, winner of Season 86, seeks redemption for an 11^th title bid — in its 19^th finals appearance as the most in the league.

But as epic and pressuring the trilogy narrative is, coach Goldwin Monteverde urges his wards to focus on one thing that only matters — themselves.

UP, after losing Finals MVP JD Cagulangan and Quentin Millora-Brown, started winless at 0-2 before slowly but surely regaining fine form capped by an 82-81 escape act from University of Santo Tomas (UST) in the semifinals.

Led by Harold Alarcon, Gerry Abadiano and Francis Nnoruka, the UP Fighting Maroons had a twice-to-beat incentive as the No. 2 seed like the top-ranked National University (NU) Bulldogs, who on the other hand were on the receiving end of the DLSU Green Archers’ stellar run.

Like UP, La Salle had a flat start at 2-3 and was pushed to the brink with near elimination after the injuries of Kean Baclaan and Mason Amos before getting its acts together in the nick of time.

The Green Archers claimed two straight wins in the eliminations punctuated by a 78-72 victory over archrival Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles to catch the last bus into the Final Four, where they erased the NU Bulldogs’ twice-to-beat edge, 87-77 and 78-73.

That proved as the ultimate pedigree for La Salle, which welcomed back Mr. Amos and Mr. Baclaan in a perfect time to complete its quartet of stars including Mike Phillips and Jacob Cortez, who brought them home with a heroic performance for career-best 29 points.

And there is no turning back for La Salle to cap a Cinderella run, even if it means coming at the jaws of the UP juggernaut once more.

“I think the most important thing is respect. We really respect UP so much. It’s their fifth straight finals appearance, so that’s really huge for a program. It’s really gonna be a good challenge for us as a team,” vowed mentor Topex Robinson.

“Personally, as a coach, as well, I can learn from somebody who’s been there five times. They really are a good staff that he has there, and a good support group as well. But we also have to take into consideration that we’re also happy to be here. We also wanted to be in the finals,” Mr. Robinson said.

Meanwhile, NU goes for the jugular at 1 p.m. against erstwhile unbeaten Santo Tomas in Game 2 of the women’s finals for a back-to-back and ninth overall title bid in the last 11 seasons.

The Lady Bulldogs took an 84-79 win against the Growling Tigresses, who swept the elims, 14-0, to earn an outright final berth.

“Mindset, of course, I know that we want to win the next game, but our focus should be on UST coming out really hard on Game 2. Focus and effort and even more, ” said coach DA Olan, who took over from Aris Dimaunahan this season.

NU-Nazareth School aims for a similar mission at 11 a.m. to atone for NU’s exit in the men’s when it shoots for a 16-0 sweep against Far Eastern University-Diliman in the U16 finals after a 74-49 win in Game 1.

The awarding ceremony for the U16 and women’s division MVP, Rookies of the Year and Elite Team members is set at 10 a.m. — John Bryan Ulanday