MANILA, Philippines – Ever since flying to the Philippines to play for the UP Fighting Maroons, Quentin Millora-Brown has been exposed to the physical style of basketball.
With the stakes upped in the UAAP Season 87 men’s basketball Final Four against UST, Millora-Brown wound up as the unfortunate recipient of two unsportsmanlike fouls from Tigers star Forthsky Padrigao.
Padrigao first pulled Millora-Brown’s jersey in a third-quarter play at the 9:33 mark. Then just as the game nears its homestretch, the UP big got hit by a wayward elbow in the stomach with 3:24 minutes left, leading to the UST guard’s ejection.
Still, the 6-foot-10 Filipino-American kept his poise in both incidents, brushing off any form of intimidation from the Tigers as the Maroons hacked out a 78-69 triumph to book a return trip to the finals.
“I mean… the coaches prepared us for that. They said whatever happens, the game’s going to get scrappy,” Millora-Brown said.
“So just whatever happens, just play through it and just don’t let them get into your mind because you don’t want to be in a situation where you sacrifice a future for what we’re looking at. So, they just prepared us that way,” he added.
In his lone Final Four game, the one-and-done UP standout logged 9 points, a team-high 19 rebounds, and 4 blocks.
His big numbers helped the Maroons finish the game with a 51-41 edge on the boards as his team barged into the championship series for the fourth straight season.
Unlike last year, though, the Maroons hope Millora-Brown’s entry could help turn their fortunes around as defending champion La Salle’s frontcourt dominated the boards in the final two games of the Season 86 finals, eventually winning the series, 2-1.
“For me, it’s just all about winning. Whatever it takes. Everyone needs to step up on the team,” said Millora-Brown.
“Everyone knows that there’s going to be sacrifices that need to be made. Just being prepared to do whatever it takes.” – Rappler.com