The UP Fighting Maroons closed the men’s basketball tournament of UAAP Season 82 with a podium finish at third place. This after the UST Growling Tigers tore through UP’s second-seed twice-to-beat advantage in the stepladder semifinals to nab the finals berth. In its last UAAP match on November 13 at the MOA Arena, the Diliman squad lost to the team from España by three, 65-68.

They were down by 12 twice in the first three minutes of the fourth quarter. And then it happened. That re-energized Fighting Maroon spirit emerged, eager to bounce back from a previous game’s defeat. That hunger for victory powerfully played out in a 21-5 run in the last seven minutes of the game.