By ADRIAN STEWART CO

Negrense Harold Alarcon struggled with his offense as the University of the Philippines (UP) Fighting Maroons suffered a 77-66 defeat to the De La Salle University (DLSU) Green Archers in the UAAP Season 87 men’s basketball at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Sunday, November 10.

The Negros Occidental’s Silay City native Alarcon missed all his eight field goal attempts to end up with two points to go with seven rebounds, three steals and one assist for the Fighting Maroons.

With both teams knotted at 51 apiece late in the third quarter, the Green Archers sparked a 6-0 run, fueled by Michael Phillips and Kevin Quiambao, to take a 57-51 lead heading into the fourth.

The Green Archers pulled away further in the fourth quarter with outside hits from Quiambao and Joshua David, and inside connections from Raven Gonzales and Andrei Dungo for the largest lead of 11 points.

Quiambao led the defending champions Green Archers with 15 points, while Phillips and David added 14 and 12 points, respectively, as they secured the top spot with a 12-1 record.

“Just like how we treat each and every game. It just happens to be them that we’re facing. Whether we like it or not, we’re going to see them,” Green Archers head coach Topex Robinson said after the game.

“We just looked at what we can learn from this game to prepare for the upcoming Final Four. We don’t really put too much attention to who we’re going to play because we can’t control what they’ll do,” Robinson said.

JD Cagulangan top-scored with 22 points, while rookie Jacob Bayla added a career-high of 10 markers as the Fighting Maroons dropped to 9-3 after suffering their second straight defeat./ASC, WDJ