League-leading Archers hold the fort vs Tamaraws

MANILA, Philippines — The La Salle Green Archers blew a double-digit lead but recovered just in time to keep the Far Eastern University Tamaraws at bay, 58-53, in their UAAP Season 87 men’s basketball tournament contest Wednesday at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City. 

La Salle weathered a cold shooting day by reigning Most Valuable Player Kevin Quiambao to rise to 11-1 in the season, winning its eighth straight game while pushing FEU farther away from the Final Four with a 4-8 slate.

Michael Phillips stuffed the statsheet with 17 points, 15 rebounds, five steals two assists and two blocks.

The defending champions led by 10, 36-26, after an 8-0 blitz to start the second half.

But FEU erased the deficit and erected a five-point advantage in the fourth quarter, 47-42, after a furious 19-5 run. 

The Archers then found their groove once again thanks to solid defense anchored by Phillips as they unleashed six straight points to retake the lead, 48-47, with 3:35 remaining. 

After a reverse layup by Janrey Pasaol and a pair of freebies by Royce Alforque made it a 51-48 advantage for FEU with 2:07 remaining, Phillips punched in a massive putback dunk and Raven Gonzales sank a floater to put La Salle ahead once more, 52-51.

After a steal by Phillips, he was fouled but missed both freebies. The ball, however, went back to the Archers after a mistimed rebound by Mo Konateh.

And with 52.6 seconds remaining and the shot clock winding down, Phillips connected on a turnaround floater to push the Taft-based squad firmly on the driver’s seat, 54-51.

On the other end, Veejay Pre missed the potential game-tying triple, and Phillips powered in an and-one on an acrobatic finish for the dagger, 56-51, with 42.1 seconds to go.

He missed the extra free throw, and Konateh was fouled on the rebound, making both to cut the lead to three, 53-56, with 22.5 seconds left. 

La Salle then had a trick up its sleeve, with Doy Dungo finishing a touchdown pass off the inbound to ice the game and set the final score. 

JC Macalalag had nine points for La Salle, while Dungo had eight markers and a +24. 

Quiambao only had eight points and shot just 2-of-17 from the field in one of his rare off outings.

Konateh had a monster double-double of 14 points, 27 rebounds and two blocks for FEU. Pre chipped in 12 points, while Pasaol and Alforque had 11 apiece. 

“We just tried to grind it out with them. We knew it was gonna be a fast-paced game, so we just tried to keep it simple on our end. We tried to make sure we try to make it a boring game by not outrunning them because it’s gonna be a disaster for us if we did,” La Salle head coach Topex Robinson told reporters after the game. 

The Archers will try to make it nine in a row as they battle University of the Philippines at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. 

FEU, meanwhile, will try to rebound against Ateneo at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, also at the Big Dome.