Warriors finally know how to win

MANILA, Philippines - Regarded as the heartbreak kid in UAAP Season 74, University of the East (UE) came out to break someone else’s heart yesterday.

Fueled by an intense desire to avoid a winless season, the Red Warriors hacked out an emotional 72-71 breakthrough victory over fancied National University to finish the first round with a 1-6 win-loss card.

“What a feeling, there were tears in my eyes after the game,” said UE coach Jerry Codiñera, whose wards clawed back from a 58-68 deficit in the last four minutes.

“I was asking why this, we’re again about to lose. But the boys didn’t quit; they stuck with the game plan and it paid off,” Codiñera added.

Biboy Enguio, Adrian Santos, and Shej Sumang instigated UE’s fightback, with Enguio’s basket and Santos’ back-to-back inside stabs off Sumang’s assists giving the Warriors a 72-71 cushion with 57.3 seconds left.

NU’s celebrated Bobby Ray Parks flubbed his twin charities off Enguio’s foul with 7.7 seconds left, grabbed the rebound and missed the followup, leading to a looseball scramble that resulted in a jumpball at the NU side with still 2.3 ticks to go.

Santos beat the taller Emmanuel Mbe in the tip-off, tapping the leather to Sumang who held it ‘til time expired as UE whooped it up like it won the hardware, its team captain Paul Zamar on his knees in tears.

“I just told Santos to jump high. If it’s for us, it would fall on us. We didn’t want the ball tapped on NU’s side giving them an opportunity for a quick shot,” said Codiñera.

Veteran Zamar fired a career-high 20 points, ably complemented by Enguio (19), and Sumang (10).

“Feeling ko parang rookie at first win ko sa season,” said Zamar. “Takot ako na mag-0-14, ayokong umalis ng UE na talunan kaya nagpapasalamat ako sa teammates ko, nag-step up sila at nagrespond sa challenge.”

Prior to their breakthrough win, the Warriors had an average losing margin of 16.6.

Parks finished with 23 points for NU (2-5), but was held down to three in the payoff period.

Adamson blew a 10-point lead but benefited from La Salle’s three botched lay-ups in the stretch to hold on to a 66-58 triumph and grab a share of second with idle Far Eastern U at 4-2.

“This is my luckiest day simply because there were a lot of missed lay-ups from La Salle,” said Adamson coach Leo Austria, referring to the gimmes that the Archers (3-3) didn’t make down the stretch.

After the Falcons took a 64-58 bubble in the final 1:20 on Janus Lozada’s triple, the Archers tried to fight back but ran into a series of misses, one from Samuel Marata, another from LA Revilla and another from Norbert Torres.

“We were lucky because despite our very low shooting percentage, we still won,” said Austria, whose wards shot 34.4 percent, actually lower than DLSU’s 38.7 percent.

“Thank God for giving me an early Christmas gift. I have to credit the players also because they didn’t give up in the face of La Salle’s repeated rallies,” he added.

AdU’s Lester Alvarez sizzled with five triples – the most this season – for a game-high 18 points.