The UAAP Season 87 Men’s Basketball Tournament Finals is up for a winner-take-all Game 3. It just had to be. The La Salle Green Archers and UP Fighting Maroons were the two best teams this year in the eliminations. They also have a budding rivalry that has seen supposed spitting, snubbing of handshakes, and all sorts of shenanigans.
But the best part is that the events that ended Game 2 might just set up an epic Game 3. To recap, Fighting Maroon Reyland Torres, with UP up, 73-66, committed a head-scratching unsportsmanlike foul off a turnover, setting off this chain of events:
- Mike Phillips makes a jump hook at the buzzer to cut the UP lead to 73-68.
- Kevin Quiambao hits back-to-back tough treys to turn a 73-68 UP lead to a 74-73 La Salle lead.
- Quentin Millora-Brown and Phillips then traded baskets for what would end up as the final tally, 76-75, in favor of the Green Archers.
Things got wild in the final minute:
53.1 – Francis Lopez, 4-for-4 from the charity stripe at this point, misses two free throws badly.
38.2 – After getting the offensive rebound off of Lopez’s miss, Gerry Abadiano loses the ball on a drive.
33.2 – La Salle goes for a fastbreak but CJ Austria gives a bad pass to Phillips.
25.6 – Lopez again misses two free throws.
19.6 – Phillips misses two freebies, too.
15.0 – Lopez rebounds Phillips’ miss but issues a bad pass to Cagulangan.
12.1 – Quiambao misses two freebies of his own.
2.0 – Abadiano gets an open corner three but muffs it.
The Burning Questions for Game 3
That wild ending in Game 2 leads us to the biggest storylines of Game 3—and these can potentially turn this decider into an all-timer.
Can the MVP Deliver an Encore?
By now it cannot be denied: Kevin Quiambao was born for this. In fact, his heroics in Game 2 are essentially the reason we are having this winner-take-all Game 3.
The Green Archers will need more of that if they want to complete this comeback. If anything, Games 1 and 2 proved UP as the superior team top-to-bottom, with more weapons than their Taft-based counterparts. But La Salle has the most potent weapon in all of college hoops in KQ, who will need to deliver an encore for the gang in green to win back-to-back titles.
Will Francis Lopez Be Broken—or Will He Bounce Back?
Lopez’s Nick Anderson Moment—missing four crucial free throws in the endgame—is either going to galvanize him or break him. How he responds will be critical to UP’s chances to winning it all.
There are three ways this plays out for Lopez. He could turn the page quickly and play the game of his life—the best-case scenario for UP. He could also forget about his terrible endgame and play his usual game. He could just as well sulk and submit a stinker, which would be the worst-case scenario for UP.
Who Makes Their Freebies?
Counting CJ Austria’s missed free throws after Torres’s unsportsmanlike foul, UP and La Salle combined to miss Game 2’s final 10 free throws. Lopez’s botch FTs, in particular, may have cost the Fighting Maroons the title—or at least the chance to send Game 2 to extra time. If anything, this endgame brick-fest is an indication that the lights of the Finals is getting too bright for the players.
Come Game 3, free throw shooting may yet again prove crucial, where one made freebie might spell the difference between champion and bridesmaid. Both teams will have had three days to practice from the 4.5-meter line, but will they make their free throws when they count the most?
Can Gerry Abadiano Get His Mea Culpa?
Abadiano, who scored 16 points in Game 2, could have rendered everything else moot had he made that last shot. Lopez, for all his endgame faults, found Abadiano wide open at the short corner for the win. He makes it and all is forgiven. He also gets etched in UAAP basketball lore—an immortal figure just beneath JD Cagulangan.
But he missed. Now, Game 3 is upon us and redemption beckons for Abadiano. He will have an entire game to finish the job, and he has the talent and temperament to get it done. Will he do it is just another reason to stay tuned.
Game 3 of this UP-La Salle UAAP Men’s Basketball Finals is on Sunday, 5:30 p.m. at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
