By NIKOLE JAVIER
Looking to live up to its No. 1 seed status, University of the Philippines goes for the sweet sweep by delivering the final blow against La Salle in the Game 2 of their best-of-three Finals duel on Sunday, Dec. 3, at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The Fighting Maroons are hoping for their coronation – their second in three years – at the end of the 4 p.m. affair.
But don’t tell that to the Archers and their die supporters.
The Green Archers want none of that as they try to live to fight for another day and drag the title series to a winner-take-all match next week.
All the momentum, however, are on the side of UP heading into the contest, especially after a historic Game 1 showing that saw the last season’s finalists post the biggest winning margin in the Final Four era, 97-67.
The Fighting Maroons had made three of the last four championship series, and won their first title in Season 84 since 1986 to snap a 36-year drought, which interestingly, was the year the Green Archers only joined the league.
In their back-to-back finals appearances, UP was dragged to a do-or-die battle and only managed to come out alive in one, something that they particularly don’t want to happen for the second consecutive season.
With Harold Alarcon carrying the scoring cudgels with a team-high 21 points to lead UP to the decisive Game 1 victory, Rookie of the Year Francis Lopez took on a reliable role and tallied a double-double outing of 15 points and 11 rebounds.
Not to mention the Fighting Maroons’ defensive performance forced the Green Archers to turn the ball over 18 times which were then converted into a 24-point advantage to completely gain the upper hand.
Meanwhile, admittedly failing to anticipate UP’s performance in Game 1, La Salle was blindsided in its first finals battle since 2017, absorbing a 30-point beatdown that put a disappointing end to its nine-game winning streak this season.
Before entering the finals, La Salle never trailed by no more than 10 points and was the most competitive squad coming out of the elimination round, all thanks to sophomore Kevin Quiambao, who is set to be crowned this season’s Most Valuable Player in the awarding ceremony before the tip-off.
Quiambao has had a sensational season, tallying two rare triple-doubles and steering clear of his rivals in the individual race but the La Salle big man was held to only 11 points in his first championship stint, something he was admittedly disappointed with.
