A tougher battle for control on the floor looms as the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons look to repeat their victory against the defending champion Ateneo Blue Eagles for a third time in a row.
The more determined squad is expected to win Game 2 of the 84th University Athletic Association of the Philippines men’s basketball tournament at 6 p.m. today at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
The outcome will have different meanings for the Fighting Maroons and the Blue Eagles, who are looking to bounce back after losing Game 1 of the finals in overtime, 74-81, on Sunday.
Historically, UP has become the second team to stop Ateneo in back-to-back games since the La Salle Green Archers swept the Blue Eagles, 2-0, in the Season 79 championships.
A third straight triumph today against the same team by the Fighting Maroons, who are seeking to end a 36-year title drought, will net them their first crown since 1986 under coach Joe Lipa.
On the other hand, Ateneo will be able to equalize if they pull through, force a deciding Game 3 and get another shot to extend their reign for a fourth season.
“May 1-0 advantage kami, pero ang importante is we got to prepare and see what happened for today. We got to look at our lapses. Doon kami mag fo-focus pa rin on what to do. Maraming tests na naglalaro kami ng maayos, but we got to be really consistent din,” said Fighting Maroons’ coach Goldwin Monteverde.
Neither of the Fighting Maroons and the Blue Eagles were in control of the rebounds in Game 1, with UP pulling down 51, and Ateneo hauling down 50.
The contest ended with Monteverde’s squad forcing their rivals to commit 26 turnovers and making 26 points off of it.
UP minimized its errors to just 16.
The Maroons found mismatches in the extra period after Malick Diouf fouled out, and with Zavier Lucero and Carl Tamayo continuing to challenge Eagle Ange Kouame’s dominance inside the paint.
Diouf averages 11.29 points per game, while Kouame has much better stats with 12.94 points and 11.44 rebounds.
Ateneo coach Tab Baldwin hopes that he can rely on his three other guys, Dave Ildefonso, SJ Belangel and Raffy Verano, as all of them could provide enough backup to Kouame.
“We are gonna have to do some things to counter size, and counter their rebounding because they’ve done it all season and this was not a surprise to us. What’s a surprise for it to be so effective when it was our number one key point going into the game. So that’s again a credit to them like our guys were not unaware, we weren’t caught by surprise,” said Baldwin.
In the last five seasons, whichever team gets the winning drive in Game 1 of the finals usually went on to claim the championship.