By NIKOLE JAVIER
Defending champion University of the Philippines thrived in adversity and hacked out a 76-71 overtime win against last season’s finals rival Ateneo in the UAAP Season 85 men’s basketball tournament on Sunday night, Oct. 16, at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
Carl Tamayo finished with a double-double performance of 20 points on top of 13 boards to lift the Fighting Maroons to the second spot with their fourth win against one loss.
Grabbing the biggest lead of the match at 64-57 with two minutes to play in the fourth period in what felt like a championship atmosphere, UP faltered and blew away the gap as Forthsky Padrigao and Dave Ildefonso combined for seven straight points for Ateneo to force overtime.
Fortunately, the Fighting Maroons regained consciousness and fought on in the extra period, with Tamayo sneaking his way inside the paint for a huge and-1 play to put his team up by three, 74-71, before Malick Diouf drained two of his own free throws to ice the game.
In the last four games between the two powerhouse teams, UP and Ateneo have gone into overtime thrice which all went in the reigning champions' favor.
“Siguro as a team, lagi namin pinag-uusapan whatever happens we have to stick to each other and face the challenges kahit gaano kahirap situation,” said UP head coach Goldwin Monteverde.
Ildefonso had his own double-double outing of 22 points including 12 rebounds while Padrigao added 15 markers, seven of which in extra time as Ateneo absorbed its second loss of the season against three wins to drop at the fifth spot.
The Scores:
UP 76 -- Tamayo 20, Spencer 14, Diouf 12, Lucero 10, Cagulangan 7, Abadiano 6, Galinato 4, Fortea 3, Gonzales 0, Alarcon 0, Calimag 0.
ATENEO 71 -- Ildefonso 22, Padrigao 15, Kouame 10, Andrade 9, Ballungay 8, Koon 5, Chiu 2, Lazaro 0, Gomez 0, Garcia 0, Quitevis 0.
Quarters: 18-14, 33-38, 53-54, 64-64, 76-71.