By NIKOLE JAVIER 

Defending champion University of the Philippines showed championship poise and fended off Ateneo’s late comeback, 72-66, in Game 1 of their the UAAP Season 85 men’s basketball Finals on Sunday night, Dec. 11, at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City. 

Zavier Lucero poured a double-double outing of 14 points on top of 10 rebounds to bring the Fighting Maroons closer to their second straight title. 

JD Cagulangan added 12 points to go along with eight boards while Harold Alarcon had 11 points. 

The Fighting Maroons arrived at the first installment of their finals series sizzling and protected their lead in every quarter before the 18,211 crowd in attendance.

Down by five points in the fourth period, Ange Kouame knocked a much-needed triple to cut down Ateneo’s deficit by two. 

However, Lucero was quick to take action and came up with a huge steal on Kouame. 

In the next possession, Chris Koon was denied at the basket by Lucero for a layup that would have tied the game. 

Just as Ateneo was about to recover from continuous rejection, Alarcon drilled a triple from the corner at the 6:38 mark to put the lead back up to five, 61-56. 

From that point on, UP was playing with much more ease with Cagulangan hitting a buzzer-beater three-pointer to extend the lead by 10. 

BJ Andrade, for his part, took the matters into his own hands and scored back-to-back baskets before Kouame’s floater to make it 70-65. 

The next few possessions saw the Blue Eagles struggle to make a basket before Dave Ildefonso was sent to the foul line and split his free throws. 

With 48 ticks left, Cagulangan came out with a steal on Chris Koon which he dishes off to Carl Tamayo who was then fouled by Kouame. 

Unfortunately, Tamayo couldn’t earn any point from the line. 

With a chance to inch closer, Kouame couldn’t drain neither a layup nor a triple before Cagulangan iced the game and earn one of his freebies. 

“‘Yong movement ng bola was really there. I like the way ‘yong team went for the open man. They (Ateneo) had their run kanina but at least na-sustain naman namin nu’ng fourth,” said UP head coach Goldwin Monteverde. 

Four players from Ateneo were in double figures which wasn’t enough to hold off UP down the stretch. 

Forthsky Padrigao’s 14 points pacer the Blue Eagles while Kouame added 15. Ildefonso and Andrade had a similar 10-point outing. 

The Scores:

UP 72 -- Lucero 14, Cagulangan 12, Alarcon 11, Diouf 9, Gonzales 8, Tamayo 7, Galinato 6, Spencer 5, Fortea 0, Abadiano 0.

ATENEO 66 -- Padrigao 16, Kouame 15, Ildefonso 10, Andrade 10, Koon 9, Lazaro 3, Chiu 2, Gomez 1, Ballungay 0, Daves 0, Quitevis 0, Lao 0.