It has taken 2,631 days and 14 UAAP games, but the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons have finally defeated their neighbors, their Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles. The Fighting Maroons escaped the Blue Eagles in a thriller win, 56-52, Saturday evening at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
During their last win against Ateneo back in 2009, Fighting Maroons like Mark Lopez and Woody Co became heroes to the UP community. This time, it was the efforts and the heroics of Gelo Vito and Jett Manuel that will be in UP folklore for years to come.
With the Fighting Maroons up by just a solitary point, 51-50, with 1:37 remaining, Vito’s triple was negated by the officials after Paul Desiderio was called for an offensive foul. But even with the roller-coaster of emotions that came with the shot and the eventual error, the Fighting Maroons did not cave in.
Misses by Adrian Wong, a triple, and a pull-up jumper gave possession back to UP with 54 seconds remaining. Luck continued to favor the Fighting Maroons ,as a miss from distance Jarrell Lim landed squarely on the hands of Noah Webb to restart UP’s clock. With King Maroon Jett Manuel circling around the perimeter, he was able to find Gelo Vito on the corner for a three that extended the Fighting Maroons’ lead to four with 16 ticks remaining.
“We gathered as a team yesterday,” Manuel shared. “We all needed someone to step up or everybody has to step up for us to win. I’m happy that Gelo’s here, he stepped up for us big time.”
“Prior to the game, I was working on my shot,” said Vito, who finished the game with seven points and five rebounds.
A quick two by Wong off a timeout gave Ateneo a shot. However, Manuel, who had wanted this win so badly, knocked down two charities with seven seconds remaining to seal UP’s second win of the season.
Manuel finished the game with 15 points and five rebounds. Paul Desiderio, who steered UP to their biggest lead of the game, 51-44, with 5:10 left, added nine points.
“Credit really goes to the players. They displayed great determination in the end game. They just did it,” head coach Bo Perasol said.
For Perasol, who was the former mentor of the Blue Eagles a year ago, the win was bittersweet to say the least.
“It’s extra special in a sense that we were able to put an end to the streak. But in the sense that I was their coach before, I feel bad for my former players also,” he shared. “I know that they are in contention. There’s no extra feeling that I defeated my former team but I am happy for my players who were able to get that win.”
Moreover, he believes that the Maroons are better than the predicament they are in now.
“The main thing that we discussed is that we believe that we are better than 1-6. I really though that if we could have closed out games like we did today, then we could have won a couple more games,” he said.
“The added incentive for that, especially for the graduating players, is that we are not going to wait for seven more years again. The last win was back in 2009. At least with the next teams, we can say that it was not the 2009 team that last won against Ateneo but it was the 2016 team.”
UP shot 33 percent from the field compared to 30 percent for Ateneo.
Wong paced Ateneo with 10 points on 4-of-13 shooting. Cameroonian student-athlete Chibueze Ikeh scored 10 as well before fouling out with 2:56 left in the game.
The UP Fighting Maroons (2-6) look to build on this win as they face the Adamson University Soaring Falcons (4-3) on Wednesday, October 12, at 2:00pm. On the other hand, the Ateneo Blue Eagles (4-4), now losers of two straight matches, face the same team on Sunday, October 16.
The Scores:
UP (56) – Manuel 15, Desiderio 9, Moralde 8, Lim 8, Vito 7, Jaboneta 3, Prado 2, Dario 2, Gomez de Liaño 2, Webb 0, Asilum 0, Harris 0, Romero 0
ADMU (52) – Wong 10, Ikeh 10, Nieto Mi 9, Verano 9, Ravena 6, Tolentino 5, Babilonia 3, Asistio 0, Nieto Ma 0, Mendoza 0, Porter 0
Quarterscores: 10-11, 23-23, 41-39, 56-52
