By Jun Ray Navarres
University of the Philippines remained unscathed after a hard-fought win, 80-76 against Far Eastern University in an overtime game at the curtain raiser of UAAP Men’s Basketball Tournament’s Wednesday quadruple header at the MOA Arena.
The Cholo Anonuevo-less Tamaraws scared UP with Jorick Bautista’s hot shooting, boasting a perfect 6-for-6 beyond the three-point line. He nailed a photo finish three to tie the game at 68 with only 30.3 sec in the regulation.
Rookie Francis Lopez had a chance to win the game for UP with a fade away at the baseline, but Malick Diouf was called for an offensive interference pushing the game into overtime.
Royce Alforque of FEU opened the overtime with a high looping three to gain momentum early but Lopez and Diouf came up big for UP, scoring six straight points to lead, 77-73.
Bautista then chipped the lead with another 3, 77-76.
However, Janjan Felicilda put the nail in the coffin for UP, leading the bench scoring with 17 points, including five perfect trips to the charity line. UP’s depth proved difficult to handle again, scoring 44 points total, against FEU’s 24 bench scoring.
Luckily for the Fighting Maroons, their 21 turnovers were only converted into 13 points by the Tamaraws, being more efficient with 15 points off 16 turnovers.
“It was big for us as a team even though we turned the ball a lot of times in the game. It was just one of those games where we were fortunate that FEU was only able to convert 13 of them,” said UP Assistant Coach Christian Luanzon.
“As Coach Gold always says, as the season progresses every game is always a chance for us to improve.”
Also, Cj Cansino, with a total of 14 points, two assists, and one steal, caught fire early, preventing FEU from extending the lead beyond six points.
Diouf added another double-double performance of 11 points and 20 rebounds while Lopez contributed nine points and 11 rebounds.
On the other hand, Bautista finished the night with 26 points, three rebounds, and two steals whereas Gonzales made 19 points, nine rebounds, four assists, and two steals on a losing effort.
UP looks to extend its streak against winless University of Santo Tomas on Saturday while FEU still struggles for their first win against Ateneo de Manila University.
Featured photo courtesy of UAAP
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