Maroons repeat over Archers, enter Final 4

MANILA, Philippines — University of the Philippines clinched a Final Four seat after scoring a repeat win over La Salle, 72-69, in the UAAP Season 84 at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City yesterday.

Carl Tamayo piled up 23 points and 11 rebounds while his frontcourt partner Maodo Diouf had a 15-18 double-double as the Fighting Maroons followed unbeaten Ateneo to the playoffs with a 9-2 card.

With a repeat of their 61-59 win over the Archers in the first round, the Maroons created a comfortable separation in the race for the No. 2 spot.

“We had better ball movement in this game compared to our last game. Yung mga bagay na we’re working on, nakita namin kanina. We just have to keep on improving,” said UP coach Goldwin Monteverde.

The Maroons’ drive got derailed the last time out, with their eight-game run snapped by the Adamson Falcons, 66-58.

Justine Baltazar and Schonny Winston fired 16 markers each for the Green Archers, who nearly erased a 16-point deficit before Mark Nonoy missed a game-tying three at the horn.

La Salle fell deeper at third with a 7-4 slate.

Earlier, undefeated reigning champion Ateneo moved closer to a season sweep and an automatic finals ticket with an 89-75 win over National U while Adamson solidified its Final Four bid with an 80-69 win over Santo Tomas.

Dave Ildefonso led the way with 17 points with five triples as the Blue Eagles improved to 11-0, three wins away from sweeping the prelims for a free passage to the championship round like they did in Season 82.

Ateneo also extended its rampage to 37 consecutive wins since 2018.

For the Soaring Falcons, Jerom Lastimosa waxed hot with 24 markers as they claimed their fourth straight win to move to No. 4 with a 5-6 card.

National U slipped to 4-7 while Santo Tomas  fell to 3-8.

Meanwhile, the UAAP is sticking to a strict bubble set-up at least for the duration of the basketball tourney.