UE nips error-prone UP

By Anthony Divinagracia Posted Jul 27th 2013

University of the East (UE) kept its momentum going Saturday, pouncing on University of the Philippines (UP)'s crunctime woes to hack out a 62-57 victory in the 76^th UAAP men’s basketball tournament at the Araneta Coliseum.

The Warriors again relied on the steady hands of main man Roi Sumang and Charles Mammie’s inside dominance to frustrate the still-winless Maroons (0-7) anew and rack up their third straight win for a much improved 4-3 card after the first round.

Charles Mammie was again unstoppable for the Warriors, scoring 17 points and grabbing a season-best 22 rebounds, 12 coming from the offensive glass.

But it was Sumang who finished the Maroons, nailing four freethrows at the onset of UP’s two crucial turnovers in the last 51.4 seconds of the game to ice the contest.

Sumang contributed 10 markers, six assists, and five boards for the victory, which drew mixed reactions from no less than UE coach Boysie Zamar.

“Honestly hindi (ako masaya) kasi they cannot underestimate anybody. But honestly also yes (I’m happy) because they needed (this win),” Zamar said after UE dealt UP its 13th straight loss in their head-to-head meeting since 2008.

“Nasa gitna na kami, and that is what’s important now.”

UP actually tied the Warriors four times, the last at 57-all as Joseph Gallarza completed a three-point play with 2:31 in the game before UE retook the lead on an Adrian Santos split.

Down by just one, 58-57, the Maroons could've wrested the upperhand but Henry Asilum committed a backing violation entering the final minute and Sumang split his charities twice in the ensuing possessions.

Still, UP had one more chance to force overtime but Jason Ligad was caught stepping on the line off an inbound play with 9.5 ticks left. Sumang then put the finishing touches with two more gift shots to close out UP.

Raul Soyud, Moriah Gingerich, and Gallarza had 10 points each and combined for 29 of UP’s 49 rebounds. But the Maroons badly missed the presence of Sam Marata, who shot an atrocious 1-of-18 against UE’s swarming perimeter defense and wound up with just three points in 32 minutes of play.

The scores:

UE 62 – Mammie 17, Sumang 10, Santos 8, Casajeros 8, Olivares 7, Noble 4, Jumao-as 3, Alberto 3, Javier 2, Sumido 0, Hernandez 0, Flores 0.

UP 57 – Soyud 10, Gingerich 10, Gallarza 10, Ball 8, Ligad 6, Asilum 5, Marata 3, Wong 2, Paras 2, Pascual 1, Lao 0, Harris 0.

Quarter scores: 17-10, 29-20, 44-42, 62-57.