Francis Lopez redeems himself after helping UP reclaim UAAP basketball crown

Francis Lopez was all about accountability in University of the Philippines’ Game 2 loss in their best-of-three finals series — now he’s a UAAP Season 87 men’s basketball champion.

The sophomore star forward drilled the assurance triple in the Fighting Maroons’ 66-62 do-or-die Game 3 victory against De La Salle University on Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

In Game 2, though, the 21-year-old Lopez became a subject of criticism after missing four free throws and committing a turnover in the endgame that afforded the Kevin Quiambao-led La Salle to even the series.

Still, the trust for Lopez remained all the same despite his prior last-minute miscues as he finished with a 12-point, 11-rebound double-double outing that went with six assists to help steer UP to its second title in four seasons.

“They still trusted me. After that loss, you know, we were still able to talk to one another. It was just really a surreal moment, man. They keep on believing in me, and I’m just really happy that they were still there for me. Even though we got that loss. We were able to conquer this time,” Lopez told reporters during a scrum interview.

Lopez, however, paid no mind to outside noise and focused solely on redeeming himself for the Diliman squad, which refused to settle for a runner-up finish this time.

“Like I said, I don’t care about what they say. I’m not here to please anybody from the outside. I’m not here to please anybody. As a matter of fact, f— them. I don’t give a s—, to be honest. What I care about is the team, what’s inside of us, and I’m just really happy we got this win.  I can finally say that I’m officially a champion,” he said.

“All the hard work, all the support, especially from the UP community. I wanna thank you so much. We really, really worked hard for this one. I’m really happy about it.”

—JMB, GMA Integrated News