Defending champions De La Salle University Green Archers marched to their third consecutive win by shaking-off first half shooting troubles to rout the slumping Adamson University Soaring Falcons, 67-48, at the Araneta Coliseum, on Saturday afternoon.
La Salle and Adamson figured in one of the lowest-scoring first halfs of the season, with La Salle scoring 23 points on 21.88% field goal shooting, with Adamson scoring a lowly 18 despite shooting slightly better at 31% from the field. La Salle leading scorer Jeron Teng was held to only two points in the second half, both from free-throws made late in the second quarter. He would finish the game with only those two points to his name, after being pulled out for the entirety of the second half.
The third quarter would open to La Salle coming out with guns blazing, as Kib Montalbo scored 8 of his career-high 18 points to lead the charge for the Taft-based squad. Almond Vosotros, rookie Prince Rivero, and Yutien Andrada all contributed 4 points each to aid La Salle’s assault and outscore the Falcons, 22-11, almost doubling their score from halftime.
Leading 45-29 heading into the fourth period, La Salle would only keep their scoring barrage alive, in spite of Ryan Monteclaro and Alex Inigo coming alive to give Adamson one last push to help Adamson score 19 points in their quarter, their highest scoring output for any quarter in the game. However, the Falcons found no answer for the recharged champions even as La Salle started bringing in their reserves with less than five minutes remaining in the quarter.
La Salle’s Kib Montalbo had 5 rebounds, 4 assists, and a steal to add to his career-high 18 points. Newcomer Prince Rivero contributed 12 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 assists to the La Salle cause in one of his most impressive performances in the season so far. Jansen Rios notched 11 points and 7 rebounds for the Falcons, who never led in the game.
The Green Archers climb to 3-2 in the standings, bagging their third straight win after staring their season with a dismal 0-2 slate. The Falcons meanwhile have yet to taste victory, and fall to a 0-5 slate shared with the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons, who lost to the University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigers earlier today.
| SCORE | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | FT |
| DLSU | 13 | 10 | 22 | 22 | 67 |
| ADU | 8 | 10 | 11 | 19 | 48 |
