For the third time, there is simply no escaping each other.
The University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons and the De La Salle University Green Archers are deadlocked at 1–1 in the UAAP Season 88 men’s basketball championship, setting the stage for a Game 3 on Dec.17 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.
It’s the final and most unforgiving act. Which team will win the crown on Wednesday: Maroon or Green?
Game 1 offered the first taste of high drama. La Salle leaned on the late-game shot-making of Jacob Cortez, whose dagger three-pointer with 27 seconds remaining lifted the Green Archers to a 74–70 victory. Cortez finished with 16 points, proving again that when the moment calls for calm hands and ice in the veins, he is La Salle’s most reliable option.
But UP, the defending champion, is not a team to be intimidated. Head coach Goldwin Monteverde made a smart adjustment in Game 2, deploying a Jacob-on-Jacob matchup with sophomore Jacob Bayla tasked with shadowing Cortez.
Bayla’s length and lateral quickness rattled La Salle’s rhythm, forcing tougher shots and slowing Cortez’s offensive flow. Cortez was still dangerous, but the pressure spread the scoring load across the Green Archers’ lineup, turning every possession into a little puzzle to solve.
And that puzzle gets trickier as Game 3 looms. Should UP persist in denying Cortez oxygen, La Salle will have no choice but to lean on its depth. Mike Phillips, an early frontrunner for Season 88 Most Valuable Player, remains a key piece in that equation. His presence in the post anchors La Salle’s defense while generating second-chance opportunities, keeping the area around the basket fiercely contested against UP.
Then there’s Luis Pablo. Towering at six-foot-seven and playing against his former team, Pablo altered the course of Game 1 when it mattered most. He tallied three crucial blocks in the final stretch: two denying drives from UP’s Harold Alarcon and Gerry Abadiano, and another against Reyland Torres. Such timely interventions swung momentum and reminded all that size and timing can be as lethal as any buzzer-beater.
Hovering above this series like an unsentimental clock is the reality of farewell. UP’s core, the so-called “Maroon Five,” is down to its final act together. Gerry Abadiano, Harold Alarcon, Terrence Fortea, Reyland Torres, and Janjan Felicilda have shared years of continuity, growing from the National University Bullpups into the Fighting Maroons under Coach Monteverde. It’s in their familiarity that UP finds its edge: trust built over countless games, where each player knows instinctively where others will be when the clock winds down.
Among them, Team Captain Abadiano has embraced his role as the Fighting Maroons’ steady hand. “Scary Gerry,” as he is accurately called, seized control of Game 2’s fourth quarter, knocking down mid-range jumpers and orchestrating the offense under pressure. Meanwhile, Alarcon delivered a career night in Game 1, pouring in 34 points which will be tough to surpass. For Game 3, Alarcon will need to find that hot hand once more and deliver the kind of performance that keeps UP at its most dangerous.
La Salle, for its part, nearly wrapped the series. Vhoris Marasigan’s potential game-winner circled the rim before rolling out like destiny reconsidering itself before cruelly declining. His 4-of-16 shooting night will invite scrutiny, but it also revealed something more telling: trust to take the shot when the situation demands it. In Game 3, that miss may possibly linger as motivation to stay ready when the moment returns.
If the past three seasons are anything to go by, the UP-La Salle Finals is a spectacle one cannot easily predict. With so many capable hands, the game could belong to anyone. And anyone who rides the momentum and finds their rhythm may well decide the outcome.
Who will rise to the occasion?
Can Alarcon recapture that scoring magic under Finals pressure? Will Abadiano once again rise as the team’s steady hand at crunch time? Can Cortez continue to deliver late-game heroics despite relentless defense? Will Phillips assert himself in the paint when the stakes are highest? Or will one of the unheralded players step forward and seize the spotlight?
More importantly, in a series this razor-thin, who will rise to tip the balance? The Fighting Maroons or the Green Archers?
On Wednesday, all questions will finally have their answers.
Read more: Let’s assess UP’s chances vs NU and La Salle
