De La Salle Zobel star Kieffer Alas may have sealed the victory, but he made it clear—16-year-old guard Melvin Tailan and 17-year-old big man Ken Atienza were the real game-changers.
The Junior Archers secured a statement 77-69 win over defending champion Adamson in the UAAP Season 87 High School Boys Basketball Tournament.
And Alas was full of praise for the young duo for stepping up in the clutch and proving their worth in DLSZ’s best start in nearly a decade.
Tailan and Atienza sparked DLSZ’s fourth-quarter surge, turning a narrow 45-44 lead into a 58-46 advantage with 6:05 left.
This momentum proved crucial as Adamson mounted two valiant comeback attempts, trimming the deficit to 74-69 with 23.5 seconds remaining, but ultimately ran out of time.
(C) UAAP Season 87 Media Team
Tailan finished the game with eight points, five assists, two rebounds, and one steal. Meanwhile, Atienza — a member of the UAAP Season 86 Junior HS Mythical Team — contributed eight points, seven rebounds, two blocks, one assist, and one steal.
Their efforts helped the Junior Archers achieve their best start in nearly a decade in UAAP boys’ basketball.
With the win, DLSZ improved to a 3-1 record for the first time since Season 78 in 2016, sharing second place with University of Santo Tomas and Far Eastern University-Diliman.
“Shoutout to our young guys, Melvin and Ken. Not only were their contributions evident in this game, but we wouldn’t have had this great start without them,” Alas shared, who led the Junior Archers with 24 points, 16 rebounds, and six assists.
“Honestly, the first thing that came to my mind is ang sarap pala talaga manalo. It just feels so good to win. And it feels even better because everyone is contributing,” he admitted.
“Not trying to jinx anything, pero I feel like our offense is improving game by game. We were struggling a bit with our offense in the previous games, pero ito, sana tuloy-tuloy na.”
With Tailan’s timely contributions over the past four games, head coach Boris Aldeguer compared the 5-foot-9, 16-year-old guard’s resilience and potential to the early years of Alas with the Junior Archers.
For Aldeguer, while matching the talent of a player like Alas is no easy feat, he believes Tailan has the ability to carve his own name alongside DLSZ greats such as Aljun Melecio and Marco Sario.
“He’s only 16. So he’s gaining a lot of experience and stepping up early. Just like Kieffer, they’re young, but they’re already delivering at an early age. So we’ll be expecting a lot from Melvin in the coming games,” Aldeguer shared.
