Maroons down Eagles to book eighth straight UAAP semis appearance

MANILA, Philippines -- University of the Philippines punched its eighth straight UAAP men’s basketball Final Four berth after grounding Ateneo, 82-74, Saturday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City. 

The Fighting Maroons won their seventh straight game in the tournament as they rose to a 9-2 win-loss record. Ateneo dropped to a 5-6 slate. 

Veejay Pre topped the scoring column for UP with 16 points, seven rebounds, three blocks and two assists. Elliot Dimaculangan and Rainier Maga had 13 markers apiece. 

Trailing by 12 early in the game, the Fighting Maroons clawed out of the hole and turned things up a notch in the second half. 

They turned a 36-39 halftime deficit to a 63-53 lead after a Dimaculangan trey. 

From that point on, Ateneo played catchup, and the squad was able to slice the deficit to three, 74-77, with 1:31 left after a Jared Bahay jumper. 

But a clutch layup by James Payosing with less than a minute to go pushed UP ahead once again, 79-74. 

Following a miss from the 3-point territory by Travis Roberts, the Blue Eagles sent Maga to the free throw line. He split his charities, opening a small window of opportunity for Ateneo, but misses by Bahay and Kieffer Alas effectively slammed the door shut. 

The endgame turned chippy, as Jacob Bayla threw down a rim-grazer for his fifth point of the game with 0.5 seconds to go, much to the displeasure of Ateneo head coach Louie Alas. 

Alas was seen pointing at Bayla and seemingly hurling expletives as the forward broke out a smile. 

Dikachi Ududo had 10 points and five rebounds in the win. 

Alas and Bahay tallied 14 and 13 points, respectively, for the Blue Eagles. The former had five rebounds, two steals and an assist, while the latter had six dimes, three boards and a steal.