The defending champions, University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons, ended up victorious in the Battle of Katipunan against their neighbor school, Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles, 83-69, in the UAAP Season 88 Men’s Basketball Tournament on Wednesday, October 8, at the MOA Arena in Pasay City.

At the end of the first two quarters, the Fighting Maroons were just clinging to a two-point lead, 40-38. In the third quarter, the defending champions exploded for 24 points, led by Francis Nnoruka’s 15 points in that quarter alone.

At the end of the game, the Fighting Maroons’ third-quarter explosion was too much to handle and handed the Blue Eagles their first loss of the season.

“Well, for me, iyong preparation namin for this game, lagi naming pinga-uusapan. It’s just one part of it,” said Fighting Maroons head coach Goldwin Monteverde after the game. “But you know, transferring it to play the way ‘yung players execute our offense at the same time play as a team defensively, I think ‘yun lang ‘yung malaking pagbabago namin and sa akin siguro, we just have to keep it up lang.”

Nnoruka ended the game with a career-high 28 points, nine rebounds, and four steals. Rey Remogat finished with 20 points, eight assists, and six rebounds, while Harold Alarcon contributed 17 points, five assists, and four rebounds.

For the side Blue Eagles, Shawn Tuanp had 17 points while Kymani Ladi added 15 points and seven baskets.

Earlier that day, the National University Bulldogs stunned the Adamson University Soaring Falcons, 56-54. The Bulldogs successfully came back from an 11-point deficit in the last five minutes to bounce back after their loss to the Fighting Maroons.

“Credits sa mga players. Grabe ‘yung depensa namin kahit hindi kami makahulog, e, grabe ‘yung field goal shooting namin. Players na ang nagpanalo nito, hindi na ako ‘yan. It’s all their heart, it’s all their effort,” said Bulldogs head coach Jeff Napa.

Jake Figueroa was the lone Bulldog to score in double digits with 17 points, while Jolo Manansala and Gelo Santiago finished the game with nine points apiece.

For the Soaring Falcons, Cedrick Manzano led the team with 16 points and four rebounds, while John Medina, Matthew Montebon, and Mudiaga Ojarikre combined for 25 points.

20, 8, 6, 2

Point guard Rey Remogat was all over the stat sheet with 20 points, eight assists, six rebounds, and two steals. After the game, Remogat shared that his performance was the result of their first two games, when they were defeated by the University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigers and the Adamson University Soaring Falcons.

In those two losses, Remogat was averaging 2.5 points, 1 rebound, and two assists.

“For me siguro, blessed lang din talaga ako kasi ayun nga, hindi naman biro ‘yung mga pinagdaanan namin as a team noong first two games. So, siguro mas pinag-igihan lang namin as a team and mas nag-focus kami sa growth namin and mas tinama lang namin ‘yung mga dapat naming itama sa team,” he said.

Despite his impressive numbers, Remogat was ejected from the game with 7.9 seconds left after committing his second unsportsmanlike foul.

5-0

Because of their loss, the Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles are now on a five-game losing streak against the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons. Despite this, Blue Eagles head coach Tab Baldwin didn’t want his guys to be down.

Instead, he asked them to remain tough and make an example out of UP’s competitiveness.

“They’re really tough guys. But I don’t see them as malicious, and I don’t see their coaching staff that way at all. I just think they’re highly competitive, and I applaud that. I applaud toughness. I ask our guys to be dogs all the time,” he said.

“And I think the UP coaching staff probably doesn’t have to ask for that very much, because that’s what those guys are, and I admire that about them.”

He ended, “I think we live in a world today where people overreact to toughness. I mean, get the hell out of sports if you’re not going to be tough, right? And if you’re going to cry about things all the time, well, you’re not going to be on the winning side very much.”