Archers sail past Falcons
Games on Wednesday (MOA Arena) 2 p.m. – AdU vs UP 4 p.m. – UST vs FEU
After hurdling its first seven opponents, La Salle anticipated tougher matches in the second round of UAAP LXXIX men’s basketball tournament.
The Green Archers did face rough sailing against Adamson and had to dig deep before scrambling for an 86-79 victory yesterday at the MOA Arena.
Kib Montalbo nailed a clutch trey in the last 46.7 seconds to lift La Salle to its eighth straight triumph that also served as “welcome-back” party for coach Aldin Ayo.
“Close game,” said Ayo, who sat out DLSU’s previous winning game against Ateneo (97-81) on a one-game suspension.
“This is the type of game we like so we can see the spontaneity of the players. As much as possible, we allow them to play basketball, make decisions and just go with the flow…good thing, they responded,” said Ayo.
La Salle captain Jeron Teng continued to sit out due to injury (bone spurs).
DLSU appeared headed for another easy win when it seized a 5942 lead. But AdU, behind the sniping of Jerrick Ahanmisi, clawed back into the game and went to within two at 81-79. Montalbo gave La Salle more breathing room with his booming triple from the left flank, 84-79.
“That was big. From one possession it became a two-possession ball game and a five- point lead,” said Ayo.
DLSU was led by Ben Mbala’s 18- point, 10- rebound, four- block performance.
“As I’m telling the players, the more games we win, the more difficult our journey becomes,” said Ayo.
Jerrick Ahanmisi shot 27 points for Adamson, which dropped to 4-4.
Earlier, lefty Monbert Arong came through with a jumper on the right flank with 3.7 seconds left as Far Eastern U reasserted its mastery over National U with a come-from-behind 57-56 victory.
The Tams picked up their sixth win in eight outings while dropping the Bulldogs to an even 4-4.
“NU made good adjustments for today’s game, they made it really hard for us to execute. Though we allowed them to score less than 60, they really made it hard for us to defend them,” said FEU coach Nash Racela, whose wards also nipped the Bulldogs, 78-75, at the close of the first round elims last week.
The Tams trailed by 11 points midway through the third but got back into the thick of things with a 22-8 run bridging the last two quarters.
NU restored a 56-55 lead on Josh Sinclair’s split before Arong bailed FEU out of trouble. Receiving the inbounds pass from Jojo Trinidad, Arong faked off Alfred Aroga at the three- point area then launched an open shot that hit nothing but net.
“I was confident I’ll make that shot because I’m playing for God and I know that he’s with me,” said Cebuano Arong who finished with 13 markers to back up Raymar Jose’s 14 points.
Aroga paced NU with 22 points but was held scoreless in the fourth while Jayjay Alejandro, who sizzled with 31 last week, limped with seven markers.
“We focused on Alejandro today, we took some points from him but it was Aroga who gave us problem,” said Racela as he credited FEU’s big men for shutting down Aroga in the crunch nonetheless. The scores First Game FEU 57 – Jose 14, Arong 13, Comboy 7, Trinidad 6, Escoto 6, Dennison 4, Holmqvist 3, Denila 2, Ebona 2, Orizu 1, Bayquin 0, Roxas 0, Tuffin 0.
NU 56 – Aroga 22, R. Diputado 8, Alejandro 7, Gallego 6, Sinclair 5, Go 2, Morido 2, Pate 2, Rangel 1, Salim 1, M. Diputado 0, Mosqueda 0, Salem 0, Yu 0. Quarterscores: 19-19, 30-32, 45-50, 57-56 Second Game DLSU 86 – Mbala 18, R. Rivero 14, Melecio 11, Torres 9, Montalbo 8, Tratter 7, Perkins 5, Caracut 4, Baltazar 4, Sargent 2, Dyke 2, Paraiso 2, Go 0.
AdU 79 – Ahanmisi 27, Sarr 13, Manganti 12, Espeleta 9, Bernardo 6, Manalang 3, Mustre 3, Ng 3, Ochea 3, Ballon 0, Barrera 0, Camacho 0, Chua 0, Paranada 0, Pasturan 0, Tungcab 0.
Quarterscores: 17-19, 44-33, 66-55, 86-79