The UP Fighting Maroons bounced back against the UST Growling Tigers with a win for their second round encounter in UAAP Season 88.
The UP Fighting Maroons restored order between themselves and the UST Growling Tigers in a gritty 89-88 win in their second round meeting in UAAP Season 88 at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City on Wednesday night.
After being handed a 20-point beatdown by the Growling Tigers in their opening game of the year, the Fighting Maroons were determined to deny UST the season sweep, and more importantly, tighten their hold on the second spot in the standings.
Scoring a personal bounce back performance as well compared to his first game with UP in the UAAP, Noy Remogat said that there really wasn’t anything personal against UST.
Rather, they simply knew that they couldn’t let what happened in the first round repeat itself.
[RELATED: UAAP: UP holds off UST to solidify solo second in Season 88]
“Siguro mas nangibabaw lang 'yung mentality 'yung team namin na bumawi. Kasi personally wala naman akong intention na manggigil or something, siguro mas nangibabaw lang 'yung team namin na alam mo 'yun, bumawi dun sa ganong pagkatalo kasi hindi talaga okay 'yung pagkatalo namin na 'yun eh,” said Remogat after the match.
“So wala kaming ibang ginawa kundi pagtrabahuhan 'yung preparation na binigay para samin and siguro eto, lumabas 'yung resulta.”
Remogat finished with 22 points, five rebounds, four assists, and three steals in the win that helped UP improve to 7-3, inching closer to a Final Four spot.
In-season growth
Getting the chance to face the same opponents in their season opener, their second round matchup against UST was able to give the Fighting Maroons a good barometer of how much the team has changed since they started out in their title defense.
Now 10 games in, the Fighting Maroons are a far cry from that uncharacteristic 0-2 start where they absorbed defeats against UST and Adamson.
The UP Fighting Maroons are peaking late in the second round of UAAP Season 88. | Photo: The UAAP
Having won seven of their last eight games, the Fighting Maroons are on a roll at just the right moment.
As far as Remogat is concerned, it was all about taking in the lessons from those first two losses. In what they saw as a reality check, the Fighting Maroons have finally been able to keep their head down and work towards their goal.
With the rest of the tournament still at hand, the transferee out of UE hopes they get to continue what they’ve started.
“Sobrang laki ng nagbago sa team namin since nung dalawang talo na 'yun. Kasi, wala siguro, ginawa lang talaga naming motivation lang 'yun eh na 'di na pwedeng matalo nang ganon,” said Remogat, who keyed most of UP’s offense early.
“Pero 'yun nga, basketball din kasi eh, imperfect game eh. So ibibigay lang namin 'yung best namin kasi for sure naman, pag binigay namin 'yung best namin, lalabas 'yung gusto naming resulta. Siguro ngayon, eto siya lumalabas. So sa mga next games, siguro, palagi lang namin ibibigay 'yung best namin,” he continued.
Remogat and the UP Fighting Maroons return to action against his former team UE on Saturday, November 8, at the UST Quadricentennial Pavilion.
—
Luisa Morales is a sports writer with a special interest in promoting women’s sports.
Her coverage highlights include the UAAP, PVL, Southeast Asian Games, and the FIBA World Cup. She also follows Alex Eala, the Philippine women’s national football team, and mixed martial arts.