Sunday was the first time the UP Fighting Maroons battled UAAP Season 88 finals tormentor La Salle Green Archers. And, behind Rey Remogat and Veejay Pre, last year’s runners-up got a measure of revenge, holding off the Taft-based side, 80–76, in another hard-fought, back-and-forth affair.
Pre, whose turnaround fadeaway in crunch time proved to be the difference, sat out last season’s gold-medal finale for his residency. Remogat, however, is a different story. He had a front-row seat to that finals, suiting up in all three games and nearly leading UP to the championship with a stellar 21-point outing in the winner-take-all Game 3. He even hit a booming triple to nudge the Fighting Maroons ahead, 67–64, with four minutes remaining.
It’s Over With
On Sunday, when the two rivals met again, Remogat picked up from where he left off last year, punishing La Salle with 20 points highlighted by back-to-back triples to stake the Fighting Maroons to a 63–53 lead heading into the final frame. Asked postgame if he was extra motivated by the marquee matchup, the 5-foot-10 guard answered in the negative, noting that nothing about last season’s results can be changed anymore.
“Wala namang gigil. Tapos na ’yun eh,” Remogat said. “Wala na kaming pwede mabago dun.”
Indeed, what’s done is done. Remogat and last season’s squad lost—and nothing is changing that, not even Sunday’s big win.
Remogat Looks Forward, Not Backward
If Season 88’s finals loss is set in stone, what isn’t is the way Season 89 will play out. That, according to Remogat, is something he and his teammates can still influence.
“’Yung dalawang magkasunod na pagkatalo namin, pwede naming mabago, so move on na kami and focus sa present,” the feisty playmaker added. “Ang kailangan naming focus, ’yung sa sarili namin.”
Remogat is putting that to heart, knowing fully well that he is among UP’s leaders, alongside Pre, Jacob Bayla, James Payosing, and Gani Stevens.
“Sa season na ’to, meron kaming pwede mabago,” he said. “So, talagang gusto naming makuha naman ’yung sunod-sunod na panalo.”
On Sunday, Remogat and his teammates arrested a two-game skid—a 72–64 loss to the NU Bulldogs followed by a 90–79 dismantling from the FEU Tamaraws. Now, that’s doing something about the present, and the veteran guard was front and center in it.
