The UP Fighting Maroons are held to a high standard by their coaching staff as defending champions in UAAP Season 88.
The UP Fighting Maroons are one of the hottest teams in the league at the moment with their fourth straight win. But that doesn’t save them from the ire of their coaches when there are inconsistencies in the players' 40-minute play.
In their big win over UE, 70-61, the UP Fighting Maroons faltered in the fourth quarter where they were outscored by their opponents, 21-10.
[READ: UAAP: Strong start propels UP past also-ran UE for fourth straight win]
After leading by as much as 26 points in the third quarter, UE was able to cut the lead to single digits at the final buzzer. As far as assistant coach Christian Luanzon and the rest of UP’s coaching staff is concerned, it wasn’t the finish they were looking for.
“Well, looking at the numbers, I think the first three quarters we did very well on both ends. First quarter, we were able to hold them down to only 8 points and then 25 for the first half. Kaya maganda 'yung lamang namin nung first half. Second half was a different story, especially fourth quarter,” said Luanzon who subbed in for head coach Goldwin Monteverde in the post-game press conference.
“Obviously, we're going to take this win, but there's always a lot of learnings even in not only with a loss but also with a win. And specifically in the second half, titignan namin yan for sure because we could finish much better than that.”
Overall in the third and fourth quarters, UE outscored the defending champions, 36-26.
Toper Lagat led UE’s fight back with a career-high 21 points, which serves as a consolation for returning head coach Chris Gavina, who is back after a four-game suspension.
In a more tight-knit game, that might’ve spelled the difference between a win and a loss. But thankfully for UP, they were able to build up their lead earlier on.
Game Alter-ing presence
It was a strong start that propelled UP in the driver’s seat after the first 10 minutes of the match, with Sean Alter playing his best game with the Fighting Maroons, finishing with 13 points on 6-of-6 shooting.
Then it was Player of the Game Francis Nnoruka’s all-around performance that helped sustain the victory, ending up with 16 points, 12 rebounds, four assists, one steal, and four blocks for a eye-popping +35 efficiency.
Apart from their flat finish, the Fighting Maroons also struggled in the free throw line.
They shot 12 of 26, which added up to 46.2% from the charity stripe, even as the Fighting Maroons still held on for the win, it wasn’t what the doctor ordered — especially with their final stretch of games coming with bigger challenges.
Out of their three remaining games: Adamson, Ateneo, and La Salle, UP will be vying for bounce back wins against two of them, having lost to Adamson and La Salle during their first round encounters.
For Luanzon, it is pivotal for UP’s bid for their title defense that they get things going.
“So what's important for us is, again, we just continue to build towards 'yung momentum na meron kami ngayon papasok ng Final Four. Obviously, we have that chip on our shoulder na gusto namin makabawi especially sa Adamson and La Salle. And we wanna repeat again sa Ateneo.” he said.
UP faces a long layoff before returning against Adamson when they return to action on Sunday, November 16, at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
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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.