Against a familiar foe and after enduring heartbreaks one after another, University of the Philippines finally found answers in a perfect time.

One of the revelations was rookie Jacob Bayla.

The Fighting Maroons ended their four-game losing streak against powerhouse De La Salle with a 73-65 win to move closer to reclaiming the UAAP title in Season 87.

Bayla gave back-to-back MVP Kevin Quiambao a hard time on the floor, particularly in the second half after the latter could only score one point after collecting 18 in the first two quarters.

State U head coach Goldwin Monteverde was amazed with how his young player responded to the call in his finals debut.

“For a rookie to defend Kevin (Quiambao) sa game, showing a lot of heart on his first time to play in the UAAP Finals for me it's really amazing,” said Monteverde after Game One of the best-of-three final series at the Smart Araneta Coliseum Sunday, Dec. 8.

“It's part of what he did. We prepared for the flow of the game,” he added. “It's just amazing for him to do that.”

With a potent defense coming as Bayla's strength, Quiambao was denied in the second half and was forced to miss all his six attempts.

But for the 19-year-old Bayla, it was just him giving his best and repaying the trust of the coaching staff.

“I just did my best because my coaches trusted me to do it and gave me the opportunity to guard a special player like him (Quiambao)” said Bayla. “It was a great moment for me, KQ is a great player, probably one of the best here, so the pleasure is on me."

And in hopes of avoiding the same mistakes from its Season 86 meltdown, UP is focused to get the job done.

“We never won well in the past. Right now, as I said, part of the process of winning a championship is winning Game 1,” said Monteverde.

“That's the process to get to game one. We're here, so we just have to focus on what we need to improve in terms of lapses during the game and try to prepare for the next game,” he added.