Games on Saturday:

(Mall of Asia Arena)

12 p.m. — Ateneo vs Adamson

2:30 p.m. — UE vs FEU

6 p.m. — NU vs UP

Another one-sided Battle of Katipunan affair.

University of the Philippines (UP) brewed a perfect third-quarter storm that turned into a second-half deluge and drowned Ateneo De Manila University, 94-75, for the early solo lead in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 89 men’s basketball tournament Saturday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The Fighting Maroons opened the floodgates in the fourth period, raining down a 21-6 scoring barrage in a span of four minutes to turn the game into a full-blown rout with two minutes to spare.

Transferee James Payosing scored 11 of his 16 points in the second half and shot 4-of-5 from the field for UP’s seventh straight head-to-head victory over its Katipunan neighbor.

Rey Remogat and Veejay Pre got 14 points each while Nigerian big man Francis Nnoruka added 12 points and 13 rebounds for the Fighting Maroons.

Protecting a 69-59 lead with 7:31 left in the payoff period, UP ignited a scorching scoring spree and erected their biggest lead at 90-65 on an exclamation point slammer by Russel Ogana with 2:11 left.

“It was a good team win. We knew coming into the game that this is not going to be an easy game, especially against Ateneo,” Fighting Maroons head coach Goldwin Monteverde said.

The Blue Eagles, who were coming off a blowout win over University of the East last Wednesday, gave UP a scare in the first half and even led by seven in the second period.

“We talked about our lapses on the defensive end in the first half. The way the team took it, the players were able to adjust in the third quarter,” Monteverde added.

The Fighting Maroons clawed their way out of a seven-point hole, 37-30, after a Travis Roberts triple with 4:44 left in the second period with a telling 11-0 run behind the scoring spurt initiated by Nnoruka, Gani Stevens, Remogat and Rainer Maga to take a four-point advantage with 2:03 remaining in the first half.

UP was up by a slim margin, 46-45, entering the halftime break.

Ateneo tasted the lead for the last time, 47-46, on a two-handed dunk by Sultan Baruwa after cleaning up Grayson Rogers’ missed slam with 9:24 in the third period.

Jared Bahay scored 17 points and Kieffer Alas had 13 for Ateneo, whose bench was outscored by its UP counterpart, 28-53.

Meanwhile, National University (NU) gave head coach Jeff Napa a special birthday gift after blowing out listless University of the East (NU), 76-56, for a rebound victory after an opening day setback.

However, Napa was far from satisfied with his team’s performance and felt the Bulldogs got careless in the third quarter, allowing the Red Warriors to outscore them, 20-12.

“This is not the result that we wanted. This game, especially in the third quarter, the team relaxed. We have to address that in our next game against UP,” the 45-year-old Napa said.

The Bulldogs moved to a tie with defending champion De La Salle University, which beat them, 87-89, to begin the season, University of Santo Tomas and Ateneo.

Trailing throughout the first half, the Red Warriors gained some momentum after consecutive baskets from Lance Sabroso, Tope Lagat, and Mo Tañedo to cut the deficit to 12 at 63-51 with 4:35 remaining.

But that was the closest UE could get as Mo Diassana, DJ Laconsay, PJ Palacielo, and Tebol Garcia teamed up in an 8-0 run to restore NU’s cushion, 71-51, with 2:29 left.

Diassana continued to make an impact for the Bulldogs, posting a double-double of 12 points and 12 rebounds. Reinhard Jumamoy ja had 12 while Kenshin Padrones added 11 in NU’s fourth straight head-to-head win over the Red Warriors.

UE dropped its second straight game of the season and 22nd overall since Season 87.