The six-minute scoring drought spelled the end of their campaign.
It was a three-point shot that propelled the UP Fighting Maroons to the UAAP Season 84 championship, ending a 36-year title drought in men's basketball.
JD Cagulangan was the hero of that game and will forever become part of UP lore.
On Wednesday, in another Game 3 of the UAAP men's basketball finals against the De La Salle Green Archers, the Fighting Maroons tried. They really tried.
They had clean looks. The ball just refused to go in.
UP did not score a point starting from 6:04 of the fourth quarter until the final 2.3 seconds.
Season MVP and Finals MVP Kevin Quiambao scored 10 points all by himself in the final canto. The entire UP squad only had 11, league statistician Pong Ducanes pointed out.
Coach Goldwin Monteverde could do nothing but be frank about their tough 73-69 loss to the Green Archers.
"That's basketball. Sometimes may mga gabing ganito. Ganun naman talaga," he told reporters in the dugout after the game.
In Game 1, which UP won 97-67, the Fighting Maroons made nine out of 33 three-point attempts for 27.3%.
In Game 2, which La Salle won, 82-60, the Fighting Maroons fared worse with only two out of 19 shots from rainbow country for 10.5%.
In Game 3, the Fighting Maroons only made one out of 17 three-pointers.
They shot better overall with 43.4% field goals, but those missed shots from deep killed them.
Aside from their ghastly sniping from long distance, the Fighting Maroons also committed costly errors in crunch time.
With UP just down by three points, 70-67, Francis Lopez's forward pass to an open Malick Diouf was too strong and too high to catch. With under 20 seconds remaining, La Salle turned the ball over and CJ Cansino got the ball. He sent it to Harold Alarcon, who chose to take a tough turnaround three-pointer. He missed. Lopez tried to get it back but tapped it out instead. With seven seconds remaining, Gerry Abadiano managed to steal the ball after La Salle's inbound. But he could not control the bounce, allowing La Salle to get the ball back.
When asked about the crucial gaffes, Monteverde was pragmatic.
"Nangyayari talaga 'yung miscues, lalo na sa ganitong finals. For me, dapat 'di nangyayari 'yung mga ganun. But it happens to the best of us. Mahirap man, but you know kailangan matutunan na 'di mangyari ulit," he said.
But there's plenty of reasons for the Fighting Maroons to keep their heads up high. After all, it's their third straight finals in the UAAP.
Plus, while CJ Cansino and Malick Diouf will be bidding farewell, it seems like Cagulangan will be staying for one more year.
He has another shot of making another miracle.
(With reports from Kiko Demigillo, One Sports)
(PM)