Maroons sustain fighting form

They’re not called the Fighting Maroons for nothing.

Once again playing way beyond expectations, University of the Philippines added defending champion Far Eastern U to its growing list of victims in the 67th UAAP season by carving out a 61-56 victory yesterday at the Philsports Arena.

It was the fifth straight victory for the Fighting Maroons, quite an amazing feat and an almost unbelievable streak for the same team that lost its first six matches this season. At 5-6, UP now has a legitimate chance of making it to the Final Four.

For the Tamaraws, the loss will be hard to take, considering that they came into the game as the solid favorites, only to be denied an outright slot to the semis by the team they handily beat in the first round. They slipped to 8-3, leaving Ateneo back on top of the heap at 8-2.

After going 0-6, UP barged into the win column by beating National University at the close of the first round, then followed it up with bigger wins over Santo Tomas, University of the East, Adamson and now FEU, the reigning champion. Up next for UP is Ateneo, on Thursday also at Philsports.

In the first game, UE easily recovered from a painful loss to FEU last week when the Warriors whipped the NU Bulldogs, 67-45, for their sixth win in 11 matches.

The loss was the 10th for NU whose lone win so far came against Santo Tomas a week ago.

A victory over the Blue Eagles will push the Fighting Maroons two wins away froms sweeping the second round and closer to the semis. Ateneo defeated UP in the first round, but with the way the Fighting Maroons are playing, a repeat win definitely won’t come easy.

Coach Lito Vergara of UP was so ecstatic with the victory, pumping his fists into the air watching from the sidelines as Jireh Ibanes, a fourth-year Fighting Maroon, pumped in two charities that finally settled the issue with 14.6 seconds left.

The Fighting Maroons trailed in the early going but rose to the occasion in the final quarter where they tied the game at 51 then held the Tamaraws scoreless for more than three minutes for an eight-point lead. FEU threatened last at 56-59 before Ybanes went to the stripe.