A scorching Harold Alarcon erupted in a career-high 33 points to steer the University of the Philippines Men’s Basketball Team (UP MBT) to a 77-67 win over the University of the East (UE) Red Warriors, capping off the UAAP Season 87 eliminations phase on a high note on Wednesday, Nov. 20, at the FilOil EcoOil Centre.
Built from five threes, the 22-year-old guard from Silay City’s scoring output tied reigning MVP Kevin Quiambao’s season-best on Oct. 26 in a De La Salle University win over the Ateneo Blue Eagles.
The Fighting Maroons improved to an 11-3 record, heading into the Final Four.
“Big boost talaga ito sa confidence ko kasi last three games ata parang shaky ako… makakatulong na rin siya siguro sa sarili ko papasok sa Final Four,” said the 6-foot-1 guard in a post-game press interview.
Big man Quentin Millora-Brown also tallied a double-double of 16 markers, 12 rebounds, and two assists.
After trailing behind in the first frame, the Diliman-based squad sparked an offensive onslaught in the second quarter, with Millora-Brown and Francis Lopez pulling a back-to-back jam to get UP ahead by 5 points.
However, baskets from UE’s Ronjie Go and Ethan Galang managed to keep State U’s lead from building up by the end of the first half, 41-37.
Both teams traded blows in the third quarter as the Red Warriors grappled to take the lead from the Fighting Maroons.
An and-one play from Gjerard Wilson cut UP’s lead to one, 53-52, but was spoiled by a putback from Millora-Brown at the dying seconds of the quarter.
From here on, Alarcon took control and dropped 16 points out of UP’s 22 in the final frame, outscoring the entire UE team’s 15 fourth-quarter points and sealing the win for State U.
Red Warrior Jack Cruz-Dumont paced UE’s loss with 14 points alongside center Precious Momowei and rookie Rainer Maga with 11 markers each.
Assistant coach Christian Luanzon credited the performance of the players for the win against the Red Warriors.
“There’s [still] a lot of things to clean up, but it put us in a good position to win this game,” Luanzon shared in the post-game press conference. “It’s all about habits and we wanted to get back on that habit of winning.”
Boosted by a twice-to-beat advantage, the Fighting Maroons seek to write a different story when they face the UST Growling Tigers in the semifinals following a tough loss in the same stage in Season 82.
UP MBT QUARTER SCORES: 15-21, 41-37, 55-52, 77-67
