At A Glance
- University of the Philippines relied on its bench and blasted also-ran University of Santo Tomas, 86-61, in the second round of the UAAP Season 86 men's basketball tournament on Wednesday, Nov. 15, at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
University of the Philippines relied on its bench and blasted also-ran University of Santo Tomas, 86-61, in the second round of the UAAP Season 86 men’s basketball tournament on Wednesday, Nov. 15, at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
The Fighting Maroons hiked their tally to 11-2 in the standings to secure at least a playoff for the closely contested twice-to-beat berth.
Chicco Briones showed the way for UP off the bench with 14 points highlighted by a perfect 4-of-4 shooting from the inside and six of eight overall.
Cyril Gonzales tallied 10 markers of his own.
In the end, UP’s second stringers made their minutes count and had a field day, tallying 73 of the squad’s overall points.
UP jumped to a telling 69-47 lead heading into the fourth period and maintained a huge advantage the rest of the way.
As if the beating wasn’t enough, the Fighting Maroons stretched the match to their biggest lead in the closing period at 86-57 with a last-second Harold Alarcon long two from the right corner.
“Right now or after this game, we just focus on what to improve going towards our next game. Alam naming ‘yong importance of today’s game. But we just have to be consistent, patapos na [‘yong elimination round],” said UP head coach Goldwin Monteverde.
As expected, Nic Cabañero and Christian Manaytay paced the lowly Growling Tigers with 14 points apiece, while Migs Pangilinan added 11 points on the losing effort.
UST fell into a 1-12 hole heading into its final game of the season.