De La Salle University shrugged off a late rally by the University of Santo Tomas, claiming a convincing 86-77 victory for its third straight win in the UAAP Season 88 Men’s Basketball Tournament on Saturday at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
The Green Archers improved their record to 5-3, creating a three-way tie with the Growling Tigers and the UP Fighting Maroons for second to fourth place.
“We know how strong UST is right now. They are really playing tremendous basketball. We just made sure that we’re gonna be coming in confident knowing we prepared for whatever UST will throw at us,” said Green Archers head coach Topex Robinson after the win, which avenged their 84-93 loss to the Tigers in the first round.
(C) UAAP Season 88 Media Team
Trailing by as much as 22 late in the second quarter and 13 entering the fourth, the Growling Tigers cut the deficit to just six on a shot-clock-beating three-pointer by Gelo Crisostomo with 3:29 remaining, 70-76.
But EJ Gollena answered with a booming triple from the corner for La Salle while drawing a foul, though he missed the free throw.
UST narrowed the lead to three once again, but Gollena drilled another dagger three from the same spot to give the Green Archers an 82-73 advantage with just 39.1 seconds left.
“Kitang kita naman sa preparation namin for this game, ‘yung intensity, ‘yung focus during training nandoon. Masarap lang sa pakiramdam na ‘yung mga kasama mo prepared and willing ibigay lahat ng kaya nila,” said JC Macalalag, who led La Salle to a 52-36 halftime advantage, scoring 14 points in the first half.
Macalalag finished with a career-high 18 points, four rebounds, three assists, and one steal—his best game of the tournament after playing with a mask in previous games due to a nose injury earlier in the season.
Jacob Cortez contributed 12 points despite shooting 5-of-17 from the field, while Vhoris Marasigan and Earl Abadam added 10 points each.
Gollena and Lebron Jhames Daep scored eight points apiece, while MVP frontrunner Mike Phillips was limited to six points but tallied 13 rebounds, six assists, one steal, and one block.
Both teams return to action on Wednesday at the same Pasay venue.
La Salle seeks its fourth consecutive win when it faces the University of the East.
During their first round encounter, the Green Archers edged the Red Warriors in overtime, 111-110, despite losing Kean Baclaan to an MCL injury in regulation.
(C) UAAP Season 88 Media Team
UST aims to end its two-game slide when it battles Adamson University, which defeated them in the first round.
Nigerian rookie center Collins Akowe led the Growling Tigers with 20 points and 14 rebounds, while Crisostomo added 15 points and eight rebounds.
The Scores:
DLSU (86) – Macalalag 18, Cortez 12, Marasigan 10, Abadam 10, Daep 8, Gollena 8, Phillips 6, Dungo 5, Quines 5, Pablo 4, Nwankwo 0.
UST (77) – Akowe 20, Crisostomo 15, Llemit 13, Cabañero 12, Danting 5, Acido 4, Padrigao 3, Paranada 3, Calum 2, Buenaflor 0, Estacio 0.
Quarterscores: 24-17, 52-36, 64-51, 86-77.
