UP upends NU for second win

The Manila Times

UP upends NU for second win  University of the Philippines (UP) picks up its second straight win and deals National University (NU) its first loss, emerging triumphant in their UAAP Season 88 men's basketball game, 66-59, at the UST Quadricentennial Pavilion on Oct. 4, 2025. The defending champs Fighting Maroons tamed the Bulldogs in the final canto who were limited to just four points with only 28 seconds left. UP scored 17 over that stretch for a 65-53 lead and eventually the win after trailing by as many as 13 points. Francis Nnoruka tallied 14 points and six rebounds to lead UP, which improved from sixth to fifth place with a 2-2 slate in the standings. Steve Nash Enriquez amassed 16 points and four assists to pace NU, which dropped to 3-1 for a share of second place with UST.   VIDEO BY NIEL V. MASOY  Subscribe to The Manila Times Channel -  vhttps://tmt.ph/YTSubscribe   Visit our website at https://www.manilatimes.net     Follow us:  Facebook - https://tmt.ph/facebook   Instagram - https://tmt.ph/instagram   Twitter - https://tmt.ph/twitter   DailyMotion - https://tmt.ph/dailymotion     Subscribe to our Digital Edition - https://tmt.ph/digital Sign up to our newsletters: https://tmt.ph/newsletters    Check out our Podcasts:  Spotify - https://tmt.ph/spotify   Apple Podcasts - https://tmt.ph/applepodcasts   Amazon Music - https://tmt.ph/amazonmusic   Deezer: https://tmt.ph/deezer  Tune In: https://tmt.ph/tunein  #themanilatimes  #philippines #tmtnews  #sports

Transcript

00:00Fighting Maroons are now 2-2, the assistant coach Christian Wanzon, Guy Stephens, and Miggs Enrique.

00:08Coach, congratulations for his victory. First of all, na-break na yung losing streak dito sa Q5.

00:16And then, more importantly, mukhang nakakunti-nuti na kayo nakarecover from the 0-2 start decision.

00:21So, you guys down by 13 points and you had a 22-2 run to rest the lead.

00:28So, what can you say?

00:30Well, first, I want to give glory to God for this win, for allowing us to prepare well, first and foremost.

00:38And the blessing lang of, because everybody has been under the weather, coaches and players, I'm sure you guys are aware,

00:49this is sort of a very violent infection.

00:52And the team got really hit hard in the past few weeks.

00:56players in and out of practice, missing two practices.

01:00So, you know, I want to commend first and foremost si Harold,

01:04because I know he only had 8 points, but he did play 20 minutes,

01:09and it felt like every, you know, every time he had the ball, you know, whether it's making a shot or creating plays, it was just big time.

01:18And for him to fight through yung kanyang nararamdaman, that was big for us.

01:29So, second, si Migs, for just staying ready, barely, you know, played in double figures, less than 10 minutes,

01:38didn't see action in the first half, and yet he stayed ready, he hit some big shots for us.

01:43And, obviously, the whole team were just cutting it out.

01:47Ang maganda kasi sa nangyari kanina is, even though they were getting multiple chances or mag-offensive rebounds,

01:55you know, they didn't stop.

01:57So, even though we were down, as you mentioned, we were able to climb back and get this win.

02:03So, Gani, you had 10 points, 5 rebounds, 1 block, 1 field, you're not going to do 2 runs,

02:15so what can you say about the grip that you showed to pull this off?

02:18You know, this game really just showed our character, you know, going into halftime,

02:26and you had that little run, and then even the start of the third, you had that run again,

02:30so I just knew that I had to dig deep, you know, first half, I had some drop passes,

02:34one turnover, some missed slays, so I knew that I needed to step up for my team,

02:39and I just wanted to do everything I could, you know, rebounds, block my own stuff,

02:43and communicate, and, you know, my teammates do that as well, and that's why we were able to finish strong.

02:49Thank you to Biggs. You played night mess, but you had 8 points, 1 rebound, 1 steal,

02:55and we had last 14 tonight, so chips were done, but you guys able to do this too,

03:02so what can you say about your comeback from 13 points now?

03:05I feel like we've been in those situations a lot, and like the fact that all the players

03:11and all my teammates put in the trust, keep the trust with each other in the game plan,

03:17I think it's really huge, and we stuck again until the end, and we were able to fight back

03:22and win back the beat.

03:23Thank you, Biggs.

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