Warriors batter Maroons to submission

By Anthony Divinagracia Posted Jul 12th 2014

University of the East (UE) painted the town red on Saturday, bludgeoning a hapless University of the Philippines (UP) down on its knees to jumpstart the opening day of the 77^th UAAP men’s basketball tournament at the Araneta Coliseum.

With new coach Derek Pumaren at the helm, the Warriors displayed fluid ball movement and lethal outside sniping to obliterate the Maroons, 87-59, for their first victory of the season.

“We really played good defense. The energy was there especially in the second half. We kept the same intensity. We cannot relax and let UP make a comeback,” said Pumaren, whose wards put up a great offensive show with star guard Roi Sumang riding the bench most of the time.

“We did not won as per Roi (Sumang) and Chris (Javier). We really came out strong tonight. We want to make it as a springboard this season.”

Dan Alberto, who shared quarterbacking chores with Sumang, torched UP with a new career-high 15 points highlighted by an impressive 5-of-6 clip from beyond the arc while Javier added 12 on 6-of-9 shooting on top of nine rebounds.

Gino Jumao-as and RR de Leon chalked up 10 markers each, giving Pumaren the luxury of pacing Sumang and Cameroonian banger Charles Mammie.

Sumang finished with just seven points but ably played the facilitator’s role for the Warriors, dishing off six assists.

“I wanted him to be more of a court general this time. He controlled the ball game and made a couple of extra passes,” Pumaren said of his spitfire playmaker.

Mammie alternated well with rookie import Mustaf Arafat in the middle as the two reinforcements combined for 15 points and 21 of the Warriors’ 58 boards.

“We rotated well. We challenge them. We made them bleed for every single point,” said Pumaren.

And making the Maroons bleed profusely the Warriors did without let-up.

The Warriors opened the carnage midway through the second frame with a 19-5 onslaught punctuated by three Alberto treys to turn a precarious 19-16 first-quarter edge to an imposing 45-26 UE bulge at the half.

Javier and Arafat kept UE’s momentum in the third quarter, presiding a 9-2 windup to grab a 64-33 advantage. Sumang also figured in that spurt, rifling two nifty passes to Javier for an easy lay-up and Arafat, who capped the feed with a monstrous dunk.

De Leon, Mark Olayon, and Alberto took off there on, chewing UP’s brittle defense with a variety of shots to erect the biggest lead of the contest, 81-47, for good.

Kyles Lao led UP with 18 points while newcomer Dave Moralde chipped in 11 for the Maroons, who could only muster 20 points in the second and third periods after unloading 16 in the opening frame. UP extended its losing skid to 22 games since 2012.

The scores:

UE 87 – Alberto 15, Javier 12, Jumao-as 10, De Leon 10, Mammie 8, Sumang 7, Arafat 7, Olayon 4, Guiang 4, Varilla 3, Galanza 3, Hernandez 2, Palma 1, Charcos 0, Cudal 0.

UP 59 – Lao 18, Moralde 11, Asilum 8, Gingerich 6, Gallarza 5, Dario 4, Harris 3, Reyes 2, Juruena 0, Romero 0, Lim 0, Bederi 0, Martin 0.

Quarter scores: 19-16, 45-26, 66-36, 87-59.