The UP Fighting Maroons Men’s Basketball Team (UPMBT) has now 10 wins.

This came after the UPMBT routed the Far Eastern University (FEU) Tamaraws, 81-64, in Season 86 of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) men’s basketball tournament on Nov.11 at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.

Sean Aldous Torculas had his best game of the season to lead the UP Fighting Maroons with 13 points, five rebounds, and two assists. Torculas was named the best player of the game.

The team, led by Torculas, had a hot start to establish an 11 point lead, 15-4. The Tamaraws, however, made a scoring run to come within a point, 16-15, at the end of the first period. It was then a nip-and-tuck affair between the two teams until the middle part of the second frame. The UP Fighting Maroons, led by JD Cagulangan and Harold Alarcon, then made a scoring run on their own to extend the UPMBT’s lead to seven points, 34-27, at the half time break. 

The UPMBT began to build some separation from the Tamaraws with the three-point sniping of Francis Lopez, Harold Alarcon, and Chicco Briones. The team had a 13-point cushion, 60-47, going into the final canto.

Their lead ballooned to 19 points, 66-47, off a pull-up jumper by Briones at the 8:06 mark of the fourth quarter. The Tamaraws were unable to recover since then. 

Lopez also played well for the UP Fighting Maroons, scoring 12 points, nine rebounds, and four assists, while Alarcon and Briones chipped in 11 points and nine points, respectively.

The UPMBT had more bench-point production than the Tamaraws, 54-18, while the Tamaraws starters outscored the UP Fighting Maroons, 46-27. Their next game against the University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigers is on Nov. 15, 1 p.m., at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.