The De La Salle University had yet to taste defeat in Kaohsiung since the school became the Philippine representatives in the BLIA Cup. However, all streaks must come to an end.
The Green Archers were stunned by Jianxing University of Science and Technology, 86-87, Thursday afternoon at the Kaohsiung Arena in Taiwan.
The Green Archers dropped to 2-1 in their group. They must win their final game tomorrow against Azusa Pacific University to advance to the crossover semifinals.
It was a heartbreaking loss for the Green Archers as a late, arguably questionable call, cost them the contest.
Down 81-86 with two-and-a-half minutes left in the game, Aljun Melecio – just as he has always done in his three-year stay in La Salle – knocked down a triple to spark the Green Archers.
After getting a stop, Jollo Go was able to knot things up with a breakaway layup moments later.
La Salle had a chance to pick up the lead with 42 seconds left, but Melecio missed both of his free throws while Go missed a highly-contested triple afterwards.
With 1.8 ticks left, Gao Chengen drove through the traffic. As Go tried to tap the ball away, he was assessed a foul, and Gao was awarded two free throws. Gao made the first before intentionally missing the second as time expired.
This wasted the impressive outing of Justine Baltazar, as he finished the game with 22 points on 7-for-12 shooting to go along with 13 rebounds and two blocks. Taane Samuel also tallied a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Melecio and Caracut had 15 and 12 points respectively.
The Scores:
DLSU 86 – Baltazar 22, Melecio 15, Caracut 13, Samuel 12, Manuel 10, Go 8, Bates 2, Corteza 2, Dyke 2, Tolentino 0, Capacio 0, Lim 0.
Jianxing 87 – Gao 22, Xie 19, Shi 15, Zhu 11, Gu 9, Lu 3, Lin 3, Dai 2, Guo 1,
Quarterscores: 19-32, 37-51, 63-67, 86-87.
