Fighting Maroons: War far from over

MANILA, Philippines —  No retreat, no surrender.

That’s the marching order from mentor Goldwin Monteverde for reigning champion University of the Philippines as the Fighting Maroons enter an uncharted territory following a defeat in Game 1, their first under the guidance of their young, brilliant tactician in a stellar era marked by five straight finals appearances and two championships so far.

“We just lost a battle. The war is not over yet,” declared the embattled tactician following UP’s 74-70 loss to rival La Salle in the opener of their finals trilogy witnessed by more than 18,000 fans the other day at the Mall of Asia Arena.

They seek an equalizer in Game 2 Sunday at the same venue.

Monteverde, since taking over the Diliman hoops program in 2022, beat Ateneo twice and La Salle twice in the opener of the last four titular showdowns, eventually winning half of it including last season at the expense of two-time MVP Kevin Quiambao and his La Salle teammates.

The second-seeded UP, with a week-long rest after dispatching Santo Tomas in one attempt compared to La Salle that had to beat NU twice in the Final Four, looked poised to keep the streak by controlling majority of the match only to sag at the windup. Prior to that, UP was 9-1 this season when leading after three quarters.

But a new hero for the Green Archers rose to the occasion.

Second-generation player Jacob Cortez, who’s out to deliver a title to Taft just like his dad Mike did, delivered a dagger on the Maroons’ hearts with the game-sealing triple in the last 30 seconds. And he finished with 21 points.

Cortez’ heroics negated the 34-point eruption of UP ace Harold Alarcon, the league’s highest since Thirdy Ravena’s 38 in 2018.

For UP to drag the series to another winner-take-all next week, the entire Fighting Maroons may need to show up, and Monteverde brims with confidence that they would.

‘”Yung 34 points ni Harold, of course, kailangan ng team ‘yun. But then, hindi naman pwedeng si Harold lang. It’s just that as a team, kailangan namin mag-contribute din, hindi lang siya,” Monteverde said, calling on his usual gunners Gerry Abadiano, Terrence Fortea, Rey Remogat, Gani Stevens and Francis Nnoruka to rediscover their fiery form – now or never.

“This is not the first time na natalo kami, so we’re just reminding ourselves we started the season at  0–2. Kaya I believe ‘yung team namin knows how to bounce back,” said Monteverde.