Fighting UP leaves FEU marooned

MANILA, Philippines - Lightweight University of the Philippines (UP) sent shockwaves to UAAP Season 74, hacking out a stunning 76-63 romp over heavy Far Eastern University (FEU) yesterday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Jett Manuel came off the bench to fire 20 points, including 18 in the Maroons’ second-half breakaway, as State U (2-3) snapped a harrowing 12-game losing skid to the Tams dating back to 2004.

“Obviously it’s a big fish we caught today,” said UP coach Ricky Dandan whose school celebrated its first triumph over the Tams since a 61-56 verdict nearly seven years ago.

“We know what it takes to win but we need to do what it takes to win. And today our guys did what it takes to win so we got this result,” added Dandan, whose wards enjoyed leads a high as 74-58.

Controlling the boards while maintaining their solid number in fastbreak points and assists is vital, according to Dandan. The Maroons outscored the Tams on fastbreaks, 14-4, had more assists, 20-10, and grabbed more rebounds, 42-38.

“There are stats that showed we’re in the Top 4 like No. 1 in fastbreak points, No. 2 in assists but glaring was our inability to compete rebounding-wise. We don’t really have the height so rebounding is a team thing for us. For the first time we outrebounded somebody and actually won it,” said Dandan.

The Maroons were winless last season but have already made some strides this year. It hurdled its first outing against University of the East but yielded its next three, to National U, La Salle and Ateneo, prior to the reversal of FEU (now 4-2).

“We’re really due for a win. We got the monkey off our back against UE. Against NU, we actually outrebounded them but Ray Parks dropped 30 points. Against La Salle, it was just Christmas in July and against Ateneo, we lost steam and they blew us out. All these four games are lessons for us so we got this result,” said Dandan.

Top gun Mike Silungan made 16 points, nine rebounds and seven assists while Jelo Montecastro and Alinko Mbah had 14 apiece for UP.

RR Garcia led the way with 17 for FEU, which missed injured JR Cawaling and lost bruiser Mark Bringas in the fourth after getting levied a second unsportsmanlike foul in the game.