ECJ Perpetual Trophy will go to Diliman as the UP Fighting Maroons complete a preseason three-peat in the 18th Filoil EcoOil Preseason Cup.
The ECJ Perpetual Trophy is leaving the Playtime Filoil Centre for the first time - and is headed to Diliman.
Showing no rust whatsoever from a two-week layoff, the University of the Philippines closed the book on National U's Cinderella run with a 79-65 romp in the winner-take-all final of the Playtime Cares 18th Filoil EcoOil Preseason Cup presented by ABC Tile Adhesive.
With the convincing victory on Sunday, the Fighting Maroons became the first team to win three titles in a row in the premiere preseason tournament which has PlayTime Cares, Filoil, EcoOil, Hanes, Bostik El Heneral, Jiang Nan Hotpot, Lamtex Pipes, Smart, and Puso Pilipinas as major sponsors.
Spalding supplied the official game ball, and Harbor Star, Wallem, Akari, BDO, Tela.com Athletics, Nature’s Spring, Reyes Barbecue, and Brothers Burger as minor sponsors.
By virtue of the history it made, State U was awarded the ECJ Perpetual Trophy, conceptualized and constructed for any squad that completes a three-peat in the tourney.
Gerry Abadiano showed the way with 13 points, three steals, and two rebounds en route to being hailed as Filoil Preseason MVP.
Francis Nnoruka also added a 15-marker, 12-board double-double, as Gani Stevens had 13 points, nine rebounds, and four assists of his own.
It was Abadiano as well who fired seven points in UP's 13-6 blast to increase a six-point lead midway through the second quarter into a 46-33 edge before halftime.
Their advantage ballooned to as many as 23, as the Bulldogs just couldn't get going from the field where they shot just 31 percent, as well as the line where they missed 16 of 36 attempts.
The Fighting Maroons actually ended the elimination round as the third seed out of the UAAP Group before surviving Benilde in the quarterfinals, and frustrating then-undefeated La Salle in the semifinals.
NU, for its part, was the lowest seed in the UAAP bracket, but went on to upend NCAA no. 1 Letran then resurgent University of Santo Tomas in the playoffs.
Jake Figueroa topped the scoring column for the Bulldogs with 12 points, six rebounds, and two assists, as Kenshin Padrones contributed 10 markers. Jolo Manansala, their representative on the Mythical Team, was leashed to just six points in only 13 minutes on the floor.
Rounding out the top five players of the Filoil Preseason are Green Archer Kean Baclaan, Growling Tiger Gelo Crisostomo, and Knight Titing Manalili.