A battle of many firsts and underlying side stories spice up the title showdown between the experienced University of the Philippines and red-hot De La Salle University.
For the first time in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines men’s basketball tournament, the Fighting Maroons and Green Archers dispute the Season 86 crown in a best-of-three series starting Wednesday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Top seed UP and No. 2 La Salle booked a historic championship clash after vanquishing their respective foes in the Final Four last Sunday.
It will be the third straight finals appearance for the Fighting Maroons while the Green Archers make their way back to the biggest stage after six years of absence and their first title showdown against UP since joining the league in 1986.
While the Fighting Maroons had a rather smooth ride back to the championship round, La Salle had to get through a rough road in the first round before stringing nine straight wins, including a 97-73 drubbing of National University in the semis last Saturday.
“For six years, we haven’t reached the finals so we just wanna make sure that we have to remember what brought us here, what brought us the wins, the culture that we built, winning is going to be the byproduct of that,” Green Archers coach Topex Robinson said as he comes two wins away from joining the elite club of Franz Pumaren, Juno Sauler and Aldin Ayo as La Salle mentors who won the crown in their debut seasons.
UP, on the other hand, faces a different title rival after clashing heads with Ateneo de Manila University, which it dethroned in the semis, 57-46, last Saturday, in the last two UAAP finals.
Then there’s the thrilling matchup of players none more worth mentioning than the battle between reigning Most Valuable Player Fighting Maroons center Malick Diouf and this edition’s frontrunner for the highest individual award in all-around go-to-guy Kevin Quiambao of the Green Archers.
Both have been consistent in carrying their respective teams on their backs. Diouf, the Season 84 Finals MVP, lording it over at the painted area offensively and defensively while Quiambao has been filling up the stats sheet with his productions, including a record-setting two triple-doubles.
But Quiambao, the Season 85 Rookie of the Year, downplays the angle of going up against Diouf.
“For me, it’s not me versus Diouf, it’s UP versus La Salle in the finals. We want to show total team effort,” Quiambao, who played under UP coach Goldwin Monteverde in high school, said.
“We want to focus on the present knowing that Coach Gold knows me well during our time in NU.”
Another subplot is familiarity among players.
Once upon a time, UP guard CJ Cansino and La Salle’s Mark Nonoy shared the backcourt for University of Santo Tomas when they played Ateneo in the 2019 finals. Now, they will be after each other’s throats in a race for the coveted title that was denied to them back when they were part of the Growling Tigers.
“Sometimes we talk about going up against each other. Both of us want to give the fans a good fight while doing our very best. On the court we are rivals, but off the court, our friendship remains the same as former teammates,” Nonoy said.
La Salle playmaker Evan Nelle and UP’s wily guard JD Cagulangan, meanwhile, have built a rivalry way back when they were in high school in the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
Ironically, the former San Beda Red Cub star Nelle now dons the green uniform of La Salle while ex-La Salle Green Hills dribbler Cagulangan wears a jersey with a different shade of red.
“It’s him again, right? I’ve played against him since high school,” Nelle said of the same opponent that gave him a painful farewell in the juniors division back in 2017.
Nelle now has a chance to get back at Cagulangan after his Greenies’ beat the then twice-to-beat Red Cubs in the semis on their way to annex the NCAA Season 93 title.
