Chicco Briones celebrated his birthday by catching fire for 21 points to shoot the University of the Philippines over Far Eastern University, 75-65, and back into the win column in the Playtime Cares 18th Filoil EcoOil Preseason Cup.
Briones, who turned 23 yesterday, took charge of the Fighting Maroons’ offensive which was missing suspended Harold Alarcon on Thursday at the Playtime Cares Filoil EcoOil Centre.
“Chicco has been there, done that. He’s had minutes, he’s not had minutes, but now in his third year, we’re expecting more from him,” said assistant coach Christian Luanzon.
It wasn’t until midway through the third quarter, however, that Briones linked up with Jacob Bayla and Reyland Torres for the pivotal 15-0 push that turned a three-point deficit into a 64-52 advantage early in the final frame.
The Tamaraws could only come as close as five, 61-66, the rest of the way, as State U got back on track following back-to-back losses to La Salle and University of Santo Tomas in the tilt which has PlayTime Cares, Filoil, EcoOil, Hanes, Bostik El Heneral, Jiang Nan Hotpot, Lamtex Pipes, Smart, and Puso Pilipinas as major sponsors, and Harbor Star, Wallem, Akari, BDO, Tela.com Athletics, Nature’s Spring, Reyes
Barbecue, and Brothers Burger as minor sponsors.
Torres wound up with 12 points and five rebounds, as Bayla chipped in seven markers, four boards, three assists, and two steals of his own to help offset Alarcon’s absence due to having to serve a one-game ban following his ejection in the previous game.
Now standing at 3-2, UP is headed for a training camp in Serbia before wrapping up its elimination round assignments against Adamson on July 9.
On the other hand, FEU suffered its first setback through three tries despite the best efforts of Mo Konateh who pounded in a 23-point, 16-rebound double-double.
Over in the NCAA Group, Benilde remained the lone undefeated team even as Letran and Emilio Aguinaldo College kept close at the head of the pack.
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