UP Cruises to a 29-Point Drubbing of UST

The UP Fighting Maroons handed the UST Growling Tigers a 96-67 drubbing in a wire-to-wire game on Thursday at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City. 

Ricci Rivero and Zavier Lucero combined for 23 to steer the Maroons to a 20-point advantage, 53-33, at the end of the first half.

The lead ballooned to as much as 33, 92-59, after an RC Calimag jumper less than 3 minutes to go in the final frame.   

Rivero led UP with 15 points, all made in the first half while Lucero contributed 13 points and 8 rebounds. 

CJ Cansino was efficient on a 6/14 field goal conversion to total 14 points along with 5 rebounds and 2 assists. 

Calimag was a spark off the bench for UP, chiming in 10 points whilst logging in just 5:32 of playing time. 

As for UST, Migs Pangilinan was the lone bright spot, being the only Tiger who scored double digits at 21 including 5 triples. 

“Ever since nung talo namin sa Adamson, nagamit namin to improve especially yung team game namin,” said UP head coach Goldwin Monteverde. “Yung defense namin awhile ago was doing really good din from the start.”

“Binibigay ko lang yung best ko na kailangan ko bumawi ngayon, para pagka-tapat namin yung Ateneo and maging playoffs na, ready-ready na ako,” Cansino said of his performance. 

Final four-bound UP (11-2) will attempt to smear Ateneo’s (13-0) unblemished record in the last game of the elimination round at 7 PM on Sunday.

Already out of title contention, UST (3-10) looks to finish the tournament strong against final four contender FEU (6-7) at 12:30 PM. 

The Scores:

UP 96 – Rivero 15, Cansino 14, Lucero 13, Calimag 10, Cagulangan 9, Tamayo 7, Alarcon 7, Fortea 6, Diouf 6, Spencer 3, Ramos 2, Webb 2, Catapusan 2, Lina 0, Abadiano 0.

UST 67 – Pangilinan 21, Gomez de Liaño 9, Mantua 6, Ando 6, Manalang 5, Fontanilla 4, Cabañero 4, Manaytay 4, Concepcion 3, Herrera 3, Canoy 2, Samudio 0, Yongco 0, Gesalem 0.

Quarter Scores: 26-11, 53-33, 73-53, 96-67.