Maroons stymie Tamaraws to go 4-0

MANILA, Philippines – The University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons remained perfect in the UAAP Season 87 men's basketball tournament after trouncing the Far Eastern University Tamaraws, 69-58, at the Mall of Asia Arena Sunday.

Francis Lopez spearheaded UP with 13 points and four rebounds in just 13 minutes of play to help the Fighting Maroons go up 4-0. Quentin Millora-Brown added 11 markers and 13 boards.

It was a dominant wire-to-wire win for the Diliman-based squad, which broke the game wide open in the second quarter.

UP was leading by just four, 19-15, at the end of the first, before the Fighting Maroons erupted for 20 markers. They kept held the Tamaraws to just seven points to take a commanding 39-22 lead at the half.

The lead grew to as much as 25 points, 69-44, after back-to-back shots by Denzil Walker and Reyland Torres, before FEU ended the match with 14 unanswered points.

However, the Tamaraws’ blitz came too late.

“We’ve just been trying to get better every day. All of us know we have more to reach for. It’s still early, this is only the fourth game and we have a lot more to achieve this season,” Millora-Brown said.

Janjan Felicilda added nine points off the bench, while JD Cagulangan finished with seven markers, five dimes and four boards.

Adam Nakai finished with 12 points in 12 minutes of action. Jorick Bautista added 11.
All wins of the Fighting Maroons this season have been double-digit blowouts.

UP will go for five in a row on Saturday when it matches up with Adamson, while FEU, which dropped to 0-4, will try to finally tally a win against La Salle on Wednesday.