Mark Belmonte scored a game-high 14 points to lead the UP Fighting Maroons to a commanding victory over the NU Bulldogs in UAAP Season 87.
Dominant from start to finish.
The UP Fighting Maroons remain undefeated in UAAP Season 87 after lambasting the NU Bulldogs, 89-62, at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Cubao on Wednesday, September 18.
UP came out guns blazing and led by 31 points at 53-22, after a layup by Francis Lopez just before the end of the first half.
The Fighting Maroons continued to pounce on the hapless Bulldogs in the second half, extending their huge lead to 39 points after Harold Alarcon’s triple for a 76-37 advantage with just a minute to go in the third.
From there on, the Diliman-based squad cruised to a comfortable victory to go 3-0 in the season, joining defending champions De La Salle University atop the standings.
"Definitely much better than the last game. Coach Gold [Monteverde], he always talks about improvement, so what comes to that is also yung response ng mga players," said assistant coach Christian Luanzon.
"After nung game namin nung last weekend, we had the chance to improve, to do some film viewing obviously nung games namin and also yung NU and it’s all about the players responding. And today they responded sa practices pa lang, so sana magtuloy-tuloy," he added.
Mark Belmonte led the way for the Fighting Maroons with 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the field, to go along with three rebounds and two assists.
JD Cagulangan added 13 markers, four dimes, and two boards in the dominant win for State U.
Almost every UP player scored at least two points, except for Gani Stevens and Denzel Walker.
The Bulldogs, meanwhile, struggled from the field, shooting just 18-for-58. Jake Figueroa finished as the lone double-digit scorer for NU with 11 points.
UP will face the still-winless FEU Tamaraws on Sunday at 4:30 p.m. at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
On the other hand, NU will look to bounce back against the UST Growling Tigers on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. at the Big Dome.