La Salle turns back tough PMI

La Salle-Manila encountered rough sailing but stood its ground down the stretch to hack an 89-80 win over Philippine Maritime Institute and stay on the hunt for another seniors crown of the 8th McDonald’s-National Capital Region Athletic Association (NCRAA) basketball championship at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.

Also yesterday, Olivarez College grabbed the third semifinals ticket in Group B, pulling off a 75-72 decision over La Salle-Dasmariñas while Feati defeated St. Benedict College, 79-71, to boost its own semis campaign in this 19-school meet sponsored by McDonald’s and Iruma balls.

Five Archers scored in double figures with Miggs Gozum, coming off the bench, topscoring with 18 points and grabbing nine rebounds. Mica Vainio chipped in 16, Manny Ramos had 15 and Mike Cortez and Eric Arejola added 12 and 11, respectively as La Salle finally showed the form that keyed its title-clinching win over St. Francis of Assisi last year."It’s really a team effort. Although some of the big boys step up and play their heart out, it’s still the team’s defensive effort that gave us the win," said La Salle head coach Franz Pumaren.

The win, La Salle’s second after a sorry loss to three-time champion Philippine School of Business Administration-QC, improved the Archers slate at 4-2. Significantly, the Archers, playing without this leading players who are currently campaigning in the PBL assured a place in the eight-team semis cast.

La Salle currently occupied the fourth spot in Group A behind unbeaten leaders Colegio de San Lorenzo and Lyceum of the Philippines, both tote a 7-0 cards, and PSBA-QC (4-2) which still playing AMA Computer at presstime.

Olivarez, meanwhile, occupied the third spot in Group B with a 5-1 card while Feati tied Emilio Aguinaldo College at 3-3.