MANILA — University of the Philippines is headed back to the UAAP Men’s Basketball Finals for the third straight season.

This is after the Fighting Maroons dethroned and eliminated defending champions Ateneo de Manila University, 57-46, on Saturday in their Season 86 Final Four in front of 14,505 fans at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.

Malick Diouf spearheaded UP’s fight with 12 points, 16 rebounds, three steals, and three blocks, and Francis Lopez and Janjan Felicilda contributed 12 and 10, respectively.

This is also the fourth time in the last five seasons that UP has made it to the Finals. They won the men's basketball crown in Season 84, but lost it less than a year later to the Blue Eagles in Season 85.

In Season 86, UP made sure that the Battle of Katipunan would end in their favor as they ended Ateneo's reign in a defensive grind that saw both teams struggle to put points on the board.

Only up by two, 42-40, with still eight minutes left in the fourth period, UP charged on a 9-2 run capped by a Felicilda trey at the 6:09 mark.

The Fighting Maroons, who maintained their lead throughout the rest of the game, even managed to extend it further to 11, 57-46, after Lopez hit both of his attempts in the charity stripe with only 29 seconds left.

"Both teams, we just fought. The score says it all. Both teams just came prepared especially on the defensive end. Both teams also struggled offensively, we got it going nung third quarter but more than that, they just fought hard, and hindi sila bumitaw hanggang dulo," said UP assistant coach Christian Luanzon.

Chris Koon led Ateneo with 10 points and Kai Ballunggay chipped in eight, but it was not enough as Ateneo missed the Finals for the first time since Tab Baldwin joined the Blue Eagles.

The Fighting Maroons will face the victor in the series between the De La Salle Green Archers and the NU Bulldogs.

This is the first time that the Blue Eagles will miss the championship round since Season 78 in 2015.

The Scores:

UP 57 – Diouf 12, Lopez 12, Felicilda 10, Abadiano 9, Torculas 7, Cansino 3, Cagulangan 2, Alarcon 2, Pablo 0, Torres 0, Alter 0, Belmonte 0, Fortea 0.

Ateneo 46 – Koon 10, Ballungay 8, Espinosa 7, Amos 6, Obasa 4, Brown 3, Chiu 3, Credo 3, Quitevis 2, Lazaro 0.

Quarterscores: 7-11, 22-25, 42-37, 57-46