Defending champion De La Salle University and archrival Ateneo de Manila University stayed unbeaten on Thursday at the Ayala Malls Manila Bay in Parañaque City, clinching the first two semifinal spots in the UAAP Season 88 Collegiate Men’s 3×3 Basketball tournament ahead of their highly anticipated rivalry clash.
Both the Green Archers and the Blue Eagles now hold identical 5-0 records.
La Salle secured its semifinal berth after defeating the FEU Tamaraws, 21-13, and the UP Fighting Maroons, 21-16, while Ateneo cruised past the Adamson Soaring Falcons, 22-6, before surviving a 21-17 comeback win over the UST Growling Tigers.
Reigning MVP Doy Dungo anchored La Salle’s balanced attack against FEU, finishing with seven points and nine rebounds.
Luis Pablo stepped up in place of EJ Gollena in La Salle’s 21-16 win over UP, delivering 11 points on an efficient 6-of-7 shooting clip.
“Actually, siyempre may pressure kasi ito yung core na three-time defending champions,” said Pablo about playing alongside La Salle’s championship core of Dungo, Earl Abadam, Gollena, and Jcee Macalalag in the tournament. “Expected na kailangan ko talaga mag-perform pero kasi sa culture namin, pressure is a privilege. Talagang ine-embrace namin yun.”
For Ateneo, Shawn Tuano led the way with eight points, Drew Bongo added six, while Thirdy Ebdane chipped in five in their dominant win over Adamson.
However, the Blue Eagles were tested against UST, erasing a 10-1 deficit to eliminate the season hosts from contention.
(C) UAAP Season 88 Media Team
“We’re really not happy about that game because we started slow — they were physical with us, but once we got our adjustments going, we got into a flow,” said Kyle Gamber, who finished with nine points, including three deuces, against UST. “If we just play like that all the time, the championship’s going to be ours.”
The Ateneo-La Salle showdown is set on Friday at 5:20 p.m.
“Tomorrow, expect na mas magiging intense and aggressive kami. Every team that we play against wants to beat us badly. We just have to come in with the right mindset as a collective,” Pablo added.
“It’s a rivalry game. That’s the defending champs. Those are guys who are used to winning. I like a good underdog story. We’re just happy that we get to put out good performances. It doesn’t matter how that game will come out because we’ll still see them in the Final Four stage,” Gamber said.
The Blue Eagles saw a major improvement from last season’s 1-6 record.
Before falling to La Salle, UP edged UST, 21-19, with Paolo Galotera sinking the game-winner. Miguel Yñiguez once again led the Fighting Maroons, finishing with 10 points as they improved to 3-2.
(C) UAAP Season 88 Media Team
Sharing fourth place with identical 2-3 records are National University, Adamson University, and Far Eastern University, with the Bulldogs holding the points advantage.
(C) UAAP Season 88 Media Team
Vince Reyes paced NU with seven points in a 21-17 win over the University of the East, but the Bulldogs later fell to FEU, 16-13, after Kirby Mongcopa produced eight points and eight rebounds to lead the Tamaraws.
Adamson, which entered the day in third place, suffered a double setback after losing to Ateneo and later absorbing a stunning 21-11 defeat to UE for the Warriors’ first win of the season. Kristoper Lagat led UE with nine points.
(C) UAAP Season 88 Media Team
In the women’s division, the rivalry clash between the UST Growling Tigresses and the NU Lady Bulldogs turned into the quickest match of the tournament so far, as UST needed just 5:14 to secure a 21-8 victory and remain unbeaten, becoming the first women’s team to advance to the Sunday semifinals.
Karylle Sierba led the way for UST with 10 points on four deuces.
“Siguro, nag-stick lang kami sa sistema namin. In-enjoy lang namin ang bawat laro at hindi na-pressure,” said Sierba, who earlier tallied nine points and seven rebounds in UST’s 22-10 win over the UE Lady Warriors.
The Lady Bulldogs, who also fell to UP earlier in the day, 20-13, dropped into a tie with UP and UE at the bottom of the standings with 1-4 records.
(C) UAAP Season 88 Media Team
Meanwhile, the Lady Tamaraws bounced back strongly, sweeping their Thursday assignments with wins over Adamson (18-9) and UE (21-5) to move into solo second at 4-1.
Amjah Español was in top form, scoring 10 points on three deuces against Adamson and adding 11 points on three deuces again versus UE.
It was a huge rebound from the Lady Tamaraws after last Tuesday’s 2-13 loss to the Growling Tigresses.
(C) UAAP Season 88 Media Team
Ateneo and Adamson are tied for third and fourth place with 3-2 records, as the Lady Falcons, led by Cheska Apag’s nine points, defeated the Blue Eagles, 18-14.
(C) UAAP Season 88 Media Team
Ateneo earlier beat La Salle, 19-12, behind seven points each from Kacey dela Rosa and Kai Oani.
The Lady Archers, fifth with a 2-3 record, closed the day with a 19-14 win over UP, powered by Kyla Go’s 13-point performance.
