Graduating seniors Justine Baltazar and Kurt Lojera displayed their veteran street smarts as they led De La Salle University to a 75-65 win over Far Eastern University in the UAAP Season 84 Men’s Basketball Tournament, Thursday afternoon, at the closed-door, SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
With three minutes left into the game, La Salle put up a 71-61 cushion thanks to nine unanswered points from guard Kurt Lojera and big man Justine Baltazar.
Two more jumpers from Baltazar and Lojera set this season’s hosts towards victory with a 75-63 edge with just 1:30 to go.
Baltazar ended up with 20 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the field with 11 rebounds, two steals, and a block while Lojera got 10 points, two rebounds, two assists, and a steal.
“This afternoon’s game, we were able to do it on both ends,” said La Salle coach Derrick Pumaren after his team’s first win over FEU since October 27, 2018.
“Balti came out and Kurt gave us that big lift. Balti was struggling in the first two games but today, he was the Balti we all expected. Kurt came in and gave us a big lift.”
It was a highly-physical, nip-and-tuck affair between the two squads that were expected to contend this season.
With the game knotted at 32-all entering the second half, La Salle achieved some separation over FEU. A 9-0 run ignited by Baltazar’s three allowed the Green Archers to end the period with a 58-50 lead that saw Evan Nelle given a flagrant foul penalty one call at the 8:00 mark after a hit on RJ Abarrientos.
Later on, Emman Ojuola got banged up after a loose ball scrum with Michael Phillips.
Mark Nonoy also once again provided a spark for the Green Archers, finishing with 17 points built on five triples while Phillips grabbed 16 rebounds to go along with six points, a steal, and a block.
Perimeter points won the game for the Green Archers, who produced 38 to the Tamaraws’ 22. La Salle also had 33 bench points to FEU’s 20. The Green Archers’ waterloo though came in the form of free-throw shooting as they shot an abysmal nine-out-of-22.
“Hopefully, we can use this as a springboard when we play Ateneo,” added Pumaren, as they next face the Blue Eagles on Saturday at 7:00PM.
“We are happy that we came out as winners today. We just have to concentrate more on Ateneo and know there are bigger games ahead. We just have to get back on the drawing board to know what to do against Ateneo.”
L-Jay Gonzales had his best game of the season yet with 17 points while Emman Ojoula had 13 points and 12 rebounds. Royce Alforque contributed 11 rebounds.
La Salle was able to limit RJ Abarrientos to just 1-of-7 shooting from the field for nine points.
FEU (1-2) will open Saturday’s slate against National University at 10:00 AM.
The Scores:
DLSU 75 – Baltazar 20, Nonoy 17, Lojera 10, Winston 9, Austria 9, Phillips M 6, Nelle 4, Manuel 0, Nwankwo 0, Phillips B 0.
FEU 65 – Gonzales 17, Ojoula 13, Abarrientos 9, Bienes 9, Sajonia 6, Torres 5, Sandagon 4, Li 2, Alforque 0, Sleat 0, Gravera 0, Coquia 0.
Quarterscores: 19-18, 32-32, 58-50, 75-60.
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