The UE Red Warriors had their lowest scoring output since 2019, while the Ateneo Blue Eagles were handed their worst loss under coach Tab Baldwin.
The UAAP Season 87 men’s basketball tournament on Wednesday, October 30, saw contrasting results but both were filled with some historic lows for the losing teams.
In a gritty defensive battle, the Adamson Soaring Falcons edged out the UE Red Warriors, 45-37, in a game that set a new low point for the Recto-based squad.
According to statistician Pong Ducanes, UE’s 37 points marked the lowest game total in their program since record-keeping began in 2003, and it’s also the lowest recorded score in the UAAP post-pandemic.
Out of 57 attempted field goals, the Red Warriors could only make 15 of them--a dismal 26.3 percent.
They only sank three of their 24 triples.
The Red Warriors’ struggle to break the 40-point mark echoes a similarly low-scoring match between NU and FEU in 2019, where the Tamaraws managed only 39 points in a 61-39 defeat.
This game also recorded the lowest combined score of 82 points since the Bulldogs’ 62-25 win [87 combined points] over the Soaring Falcons on July 25, 2014, where the Falcons set the league’s record for the lowest scoring output.
With the win, Adamson revived their Final Four hopes for a 4-7 record in fifth place, just behind UST.
[ALSO READ: Nash Racela happy to see Adamson avoid no-win October with breakthrough over UE]
UE, meanwhile, continues to hold on to the third spot with a 6-4 record.
In the second game of the night, the UP Fighting Maroons came out swinging with a dominant 75-47 victory over the Ateneo Blue Eagles for their 9th win in the season.
The Fighting Maroon’s 28-point win stands as the largest margin of defeat against the Blue Eagles in the Tab Baldwin era.
[ALSO READ: UAAP: UP Fighting Maroons whip Blue Eagles by 28, deal Baldwin worst loss in Ateneo career]
In fact, by the end of the third quarter, UP’s bench alone had scored 42 points, surpassing Ateneo’s entire team output of 40 points—a testament to UP’s 16-man deep roster.
Since accepting the coaching role in Ateneo in 2019, Baldwin has had success throughout the past seasons, winning four out of the six UAAP titles since Season 79.
Despite the tough loss, the decorated tactician isn’t thinking too much about the margin, focusing instead on the Blue Eagles’ remaining games in Season 87.
“Irrelevant, that’s irrelevant,” Baldwin told reporters. “It’s a very disappointing loss. It’s a loss you have to put behind you and move forward.”
“We have three games left to make a positive impression on the season. For our players, these last three games are a chance to make a lasting impact going forward,” he added.