Maroons obliterate Bulldogs for share of top spot

MANILA, Philippines -- The University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons started hot and never looked back, manhandling the National University Bulldogs, 89-62, in the UAAP Season 87 men’s basketball tournament Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

It is the third straight victory of the Fighting Maroons, who now share a slice of the top spot with the defending champions La Salle Green Archers.

Mark Belmonte finished with 14 points, three rebounds, two assists, a steal and a block on an efficient 6-of-7 shooting. JD Cagulangan added 13 markers.

It was just a dominant outing for the Fighting Maroons, who ended the first quarter with a 15-point lead, 29-14, as the shots just kept on falling.

With the lead firmly in UP's grasp, they did not let up, hiking the lead to as big as 39 points, 76-37, after a Harold Alarcon triple.

Despite the mountain of a lead, the Diliman-based squad did not let go of the gas pedal as they maintained a more than 30 point advantage almost all the way through, until Reinhard Jumamoy punched in a late 3-pointer that set the final score.

“Tonight was definitely much better than the last game. Coach Gold, he always talks about improvement, so what comes to that is also yung response ng mga players. And after nung game namin nung last weekend, we had the chance to improve, to do some film viewing obviously nung games namin and also yung NU,” assistant coach Christian Luanzon said. 

“It’s all about the players responding. And today they responded sa practices pa lang, so sana magtuloy-tuloy,” he added. 

All-in-all, 14 Fighting Maroons scored and made at least a field goal in the game.

Francis Lopez and Quentin Millora-Brown had eight markers apiece, while Gerry Abadiano had seven.

Dikachi Ududo, Aldous Torculas and Janjan Felicilda had six each.

Jake Figueroa was the only player in double figures for NU with 11 points and four rebounds.

Jolo Manansala had nine markers and 10 boards, while Jumamoy and Tebol Garcia had six each.

NU dropped to 1-2 in the season. They will be facing the University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigers next on Saturday at the Big Dome.

UP, meanwhile, will take on the Far Eastern University Tamaraws on Sunday at the Mall of Asia Arena.