By MARK REY MONTEJO
The University of the Philippines believes it should guard itself against complacency as the Fighting Maroons hold a twice-to-beat advantage over the UST Growling Tigers in the Final Four of the UAAP Season 87 men’s basketball tournament.
“Every time you enter the Final Four with two straight wins, our confidence should be there,” said UP assistant coach Christian Luanzon.
“Learn from our mistakes. Same thing with a win. We gotta move forward from this kasi pagdating ng final four. We’re gonna treat that as a do-or-die game, Kahit meron kaming twice-to-beat advantage, ” Luanzon continued. “It’s a do-or-die for us.”
Before it plunges into action against UST, UP earned a morale-building 77-67 win over UE Wednesday evening, Nov. 20, to list its second straight win after falling twice in its previous assignments.
The State U wants to play down its semis advantage, knowing the Growling Tigers, with Pido Jarencio at the helm, have capable scorers in their roster including Nic Cabanero, Mo Tounkara, Forthsky Padrigao and Kyle Paranada.
“UST is with the experience of Forthsky, Tounkara on both ends,” said Luanzon.
“Our daily mindset [needs to be] always right because nandito na kami eh, the one foot in the door, the goal is to make it to the final four and obviously the next step is getting to the championship and those are the three big steps [for us],” he added.
The Maroons square off with the Growling Tigers in the semifinal later this month. The top seed Green Archers still await their foe in the knockout round.
‘Morale-booster’ for struggling Alarcon
Harold Alarcon, who exploded with a career-high 33 points, said the victory over UE helped him gain confidence after losing his rhythm earlier in the season.
“Siguro papasok sa Final Four, malaking boost talaga ‘to sa confidence ko,” said the fourth-year UP student.
“Kasi last three games parang shaky ako, siguro [‘tong performance ko na ‘to] nakakatulong para sa sarili ko papasok sa Final Four,” he added.
Alarcon drilled five of his seven three-point attempts against the Red Warriors and was the go-to guy in crucial stretches of the game.
