By: Anton Guarina
University of the Philippines showed its force against College of Saint Benilde, taking a dominant 117-61 victory to stay unbeaten in Group A of the 2022 Filoil Ecooil Preseason Cup, Wednesday in San Juan City.
UAAP Season 84 Mythical team member Zavier Lucero – who only arrived in the country earlier in the day – made his return. He dropped 11 points, four rebounds, three steals, and a block in 19 minutes of action.
Also making his Fighting Maroons debut was one-and-done big man Henry Galinato. He tallied 16 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the field with nine rebounds in just 15 minutes of game time.
The Fighting Maroons employed a 30-12 second period to turn a close 21-18 affair to score a 51-30 breakaway at the half.
UP led by as much as 58, 114-56 on a three-pointer shot by Brix Ramos with 1:11 remaining in the fourth quarter.
“We played well. It was our most dominant game in most recent history that I can recall at least. In terms of the final score, there were still things obviously need to work on, especially on defense,” said UP assistant coach Mo Gingerich.
“There are times that people are lost, not communicating as much as they should be. But for the most part, we did very well. We shot very well so that helped us get the score up.”
RC Calimag led UP in the scoring department with 21 points. Carl Tamayo and Harold Alarcon added 14 points apiece. The former had three rebounds and six assists, while the latter had five rebounds and four assists.
UP hiked its record to 4-0 while the CSB sank 1-2
Former Fighting Maroon Will Gozum was the sole double-digit scorer for the Blazers with 17 points.
Benilde shot just 31 percent from the field compared to a mighty 54-percent clip for the defending UAAP champions. Moreover, UP out-rebounded CSB, 62-27.
UP will next face Emilio Aguinaldo College on Friday, 5:00 P.M.,at the Filoil Center in San Juan City. St. Benilde on the other hand, will take on the Perpetual Atlas earlier in the day at 11:00 A.M.
The Scores:
UP 117 — Calimag 21, Galinato 16, Alarcon 14, Tamayo 14, Lucero 11, Diouf 9, Ramos 7, Fortea 6, Abadiano 5, Torculas 5, Gonzales 5, Cagulangan 4.
CSB 61 — Gozum 17, Cajucom 9, Sangco 6, Dimayuga 6, Davis 5, Sumabat 5, Mara 4, Pasturan 3, Vanguardia 2, Jarque 2, Nayve 0, Marcos 0.
Quarterscores: 21-18, 51-30, 85-44, 117-61.
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The entire 2022 Filoil Ecooil Preseason Cup will stream LIVE on Smart Sports Facebook page
