MANILA, Philippines – JD Cagulangan and the UP Fighting Maroons are back in a familiar position in the UAAP finals.
For the fourth season in a row, the Fighting Maroons head to a do-or-die Game 3 after failing to close out the La Salle Green Archers in Game 2 of their best-of-three finals in the Season 87 men’s basketball tournament.
Led by its senior guard Cagulangan, UP was on the verge of finally getting over the hump and reclaiming the title it last won in Season 84 after leading most of the fourth quarter against La Salle in their nail-biting Game 2 showdown on Wednesday, December 11.
However, back-to-back UAAP MVP Kevin Quiambao had other things in mind as he rallied the Green Archers back with two cold-blooded three-pointers with under two minutes left, before his frontcourt partner Mike Phillips settled the final count at 76-75 in front of 17,112 fans at the Mall of Asia Arena.
As UP goes back to the drawing board, Cagulangan — the hero in the Fighting Maroons’ Season 84 championship run — was quick to remind his teammates that the series is simply not yet finished and they still have another crack at the title on Sunday, December 15.
“I just told them it’s not yet over. There’s still a Game 3,” Cagulangan told reporters in Filipino.
“Of course, we’re going to work hard for that. It’s not going to be easy, but we’ll study our lapses and learn from our mistakes and the positive things that we did.”
“We’ll come back in Game 3,” he continued in Filipino.
After being held to only 2 points in the first two quarters, Cagulangan looked dead set on finishing off the Green Archers in the second half as he knocked down three booming triples in the third period to give the Fighting Maroons a 62-54 edge before the start of the final frame.
The Fighting Maroons kept a three possession advantage against the Green Archers up to the last three minutes of the ball game, before Phillips and Quiambao completely took over.
UP still had multiple opportunities to get back on top late in the game, but Francis Lopez missed four straight free throws and Gerry Abadiano fell short on his potential championship-winning trey at the buzzer as La Salle escaped with the win.
After once again failing to get the job done in Game 2, Cagulangan now shifts his focus to the winner-take-all Game 3 at the Araneta Coliseum on Sunday — his final game in the UAAP.
“We just have to move on [to Game 3]. Don’t forget what happened in Game 2, study it, and onto the next,” he said. – Rappler.com