UNIVERSITY of the Philippines (UP) lost Game One, 79-88, on Saturday but for the Fighting Maroons’ Head Coach Bo Perasol, the setback revealed the Ateneo Blue Eagles are beatable.
“If there is one takeaway that I can take home and think about is that it’s possible—it’s possible!— that we can beat Ateneo,” said Perasol minutes after absorbing the defeat in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines Season 81 men’s basketball Finals at the Mall of Asia Arena.
It was obvious that UP cornered much of the 21,000-plus tickets that were sold for that game as evidenced by sea of maroon-clad fans who were raucous all game long—especially in the second quarter when their team went ahead and their cheers turning the referee’s whistle to a mute.
It was in that period when UP’s Jun Manzo led a spirited fight back he highlighted by a buzzer-beating triple at halftime that made it just a one-point 39-38 game.
Manzo’s 10-point effort in that period was immediately supplemented with seven points in the third frame. His gun went silent though in the final 10 minutes.
Leading his team in scoring in the first three quarters, Manzo couldn’t find the back of the net in the final quarter, when the Fighting Maroons desperately tried to crack the Blue Eagles’ championship poise.
Ateneo became far more active when it mattered most, revalidating their tag as the favorites to run away with the crown and frustrate a foe that has not won in 32 years.
The UP fans were a sight to behold, according to Perasol. But the loss, despite tough, gave them a peek of how to beat Ateneo in Game Two, which is set for Wednesday across Metro Manila at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
“That’s just something else. With this kind of magnitude [of fans] that cheers you onto deliver, or at least give them something, is something to be proud of,” Perason said.
“I told the boys ‘we fought it out with a twice-to-beat disadvantage against Adamson [University], why not do it again against Ateneo?’ I’m still very positive about our chances,” he added.
Perasol vowed they will play hungry in Game Two.
“We need to do some preparation which we did not have in the last few days. But I’m quite sure we’ll be better on Wednesday,” he said.