DE La Salle University handily defeated Adamson University 71-58 on Wednesday in the UAAP Season 86 Men’s Basketball Tournament at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
The Adamson Soaring Falcons, winner of back-to-back overtime games, plummeted after the La Salle Green Archers went on a phenomenal 23-0 run in the third quarter.
The Taft-based squad was behind 35-38 when Evan Nelle, Kevin Quiambao and Mike Phillips took over and rallied the team.
With 1:16 left in the third quarter, the Green Archers led 58-38 with Nelle’s six points, Quiambao’s nine, Phillips’ five, and Joaqui Manuel’s three. Adamson’s Joem Sabandal then shot a three-pointer with 1:03 remaining to stop the Soaring Falcons’ bleeding.
With 30 seconds left in the game, the Soaring Falcons went on a late run and scored 11 straight points to cut the 24-point deficit to 13, 71-58.
But the Green Archers’ comfortable lead was too much to handle for Adamson. La Salle’s lead was enough to secure their third victory in four games this season.
Quiambao, the game’s sophomore star, finished with 17 points, 10 rebounds and six assists, while Phillips had 14 points, nine rebounds and two blocks.
Photo Courtesy: UAAP Media Group
“Nagstick lang kami sa kung anong gustong ipagawa ni coach, and nung first half nga, medyo naglaro kami ng complacent basketball,” he said.
“Good thing nung second half, naka-adjust kami and ayun, nag-enjoy lang kami. Medyo nawala ‘yung joy namin sa paglalaro nung first half,” added Quiambao, the Season 85 Rookie of the Year.
Meanwhile, Nelle had 15 rebounds to go along with his 12 points and five assists.
“It was really a challenging game for us. We know that Adamson will come into this game with a lot of confidence after their last game. We just have to make sure we’re gonna come out also, knowing that this is gonna be big for us,” said the Green Archers’ head coach Topex Robinson.
The Soaring Falcons, which dropped to 2-2, were led by Jhon Calisay’s 12 points, all of which came in the first half. Matt Erolons had 10 points, while Ced Manzano had eight.
On Sunday, October 15, DLSU will take on National University at 2 p.m. while Adamson will battle University of the East at 4 p.m.
How useful was this post?
Click on a star to rate it!
Average rating 0 / 5. Vote count: 0
No votes so far! Be the first to rate this post.
We are sorry that this post was not useful for you!
Let us improve this post!
Tell us how we can improve this post?