Fighting Maroons surge past Knights

MANILA, Philippines - University of the Philippines (UP) showed it means business this year, kicking off its 2011 Filoil Flying V Hanes Pre-Season Premier Cup campaign with a come-from-behind 65-63 victory over Letran yesterday at the Filoil Flying V Arena in San Juan.

Mike Silungan and Miggy Maniego, holdovers of the crew that ended winless in the last UAAP, and returnee Mike Gamboa teamed up in a decisive 14-4 windup as UP completed its fightback from eight points down to score its first win under new coach Ricky Dandan.

“We expected a physical game with Letran, a highly defensive one. Both of us struggled offensively but then when we were down by eight or nine, our kids just didn’t give up,” said Dandan, who took over the helm last December.

With Letran up by three, UP closed the gap with an inside basket by Nigerian recruit Alinko Mbah off an assist by Gamboa. Silungan then stole the leather off Letran rookie Mark Cruz before feeding an open Gamboa for a corner trey that pushed UP ahead, 65-63, 33.1 seconds left.

The Maroons thwarted the Knights’ last possession, tapping the ball out of the hands of a driving Kevin Alas and leaving Letran with 1 second. Off the inbounds, Jonathan Belorio made a hurried attempt that missed its target, allowing UP to go 1-0 for a share of Group B lead with Mapua, which beat St. Benilde, 82-75, in the first game.

Letran, whose coach Louie Alas was so disgusted with the non-call in the endgame that he threw the ball at the referee after the game, dropped to 1-1.

“This is our first tournament game together. This may not be the UAAP but I’m pleased with what I saw, especially in the last five minutes, our guys never gave up. Letran is a good team, they’re well-coached, they’re a very good defensive team but we were going toe-to-toe with them defensively and we got lucky in the end,” Dandan said.

Lucas Tagarda knocked down a three-point play with 7.8 seconds left as University of the East overhauled a 13-point deficit to beat Jose Rizal U, 79-78, and join UP and Mapua in the lead in Group B.

Tightening their zone defense and playing “big” down the stretch, Warriors unleashed a 13-1 blast capped by back-to-back baskets by Ken Acibar and a triple by Willie Kamguia to close in at 76-77.

Tagarda nearly turned goat when he gave up a foul that led to a split by Romnick Mendoza with 22.8 ticks left. But he made up for it with a putback off a JM Noble miss, drawing a foul from John Villarias and calmly sinking the freebie to put the Warriors ahead for good.

“Talagang nagtyaga lang kami sa depensa kasi yung team namin kailangan marami pang ayusin from defensive standpoint (We hung tough, tried to break down JRU with our defense),” said UE coach Jerry Codiñera, whose team finally won over JRU in an off-season meeting.

“We’ve made some minor tweaks in (defensive) rotation. I told them to firm up our zone; be tougher in defense and I did not go back to man, telling them to play big, maximize our height, dominate the rebounds. I have to believe in our big men, that they’ll get the rebound because JRU has a very potent offense,” he added.

Acibar led the way with 22 points, including an off-balanced shot inside the final 1:15, that Codiñera said turned the game to their favor.

Alex Almario and Villarias normed 14 apiece for the Heavy Bombers.

Silungan finished with 13 plus seven rebounds and four assists as Carlo Gomez chipped in 12 and Mbah had 10 markers and nine boards.

Kevin Racal topscored for Letran with 14 while Alas, hero of their 66-54 win over Emilio Aguinaldo College Wednesday, added 11.

Veteran Allan Mangas posted a near triple-double of 15 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists along with two steals to lead Mapua to an 82-75 win over St. Benilde.

Fil-Palestinian Yousef Taja also played big for MIT, collaring 17 boards together with 11 markers. He fired 8 straight points in the first quarter as the Cardinals raced to a 23-13 lead.

“Even if this is still the summer, we already treat this as the start of our NCAA season,” said MIT coach Chito Victolero. “I’m happy that seniors like Mangahas and rookies both stepped up.”

In juniors play, Adamson demolished Jose Rizal, 74-29, while Perpetual routed University of the East, 103-72.