Game on Friday(Filoil EcoOil Centre)10 a.m. – UST vs UE (JHS Finals Game 3)
UNIVERSITY of Santo Tomas (UST) and University of the East (UE) slug it out for one last time in a bid to end long championship droughts in Game 3 of the UAAP Season 87 junior high basketball finals on Friday at the Filoil EcoOil Centre in San Juan.
Game time is at 10 a.m. for the final event of the first semester sports calendar of the country’s premier collegiate league after the culmination of men’s and women’s hoops last weekend.
University of the Philippines bested De La Salle University, 66-62, for the men’s crown while National University beat Santo Tomas, 78-73, to reclaim the women’s tiara in similar three-game series duels — putting the spotlight on the junior dribblers with bigger dreams to fulfill.
UE is out to capture its first basketball title in 39 years against Santo Tomas seeking to snap a 23-year drought in high school hoops.
The Junior Warriors had a near-sweep of the prelims at 13-1 but yielded to the Tiger Cubs in Game 1, 98-84, before pulling off a 76-70 escape act in Game 2 to force a winner-take-all set-to.
And UE is not keen on letting the golden opportunity slip away to gift Recto its first crown — high school, men’s or women’s — since Season 48 (1985) during the glory days of legend Allan Caidic following a comeback win, coincidentally, against Santo Tomas.
“That’s the motivation — to bring UE another championship,” said UE mentor Andrew Estrella, banking on the troika of Mav Mesina, Neil Garcia and Gab delos Reyes.
But that would be easier said than done, especially with the in-form Tiger Cubs on the way after stunning second-ranked Far Eastern University in the semifinals and snatching Game 1 from the fancied Junior Warriors side.
Mythical Team member Jhon Canapi along with Miguel Jubilado and Dustin Bathan, who all scored more than 20 points in Game 2, will spearhead Santo Tomas’ bid with the expected suspension of another Mythical Team player in Andwele Cabañero following his early ejection last match due to a loose ball scuffle. — John Bryan Ulanday