Fil-Oil: Green Archers earn semis berth, oust FEU

The DLSU Green Archers survived a late rally by the FEU Tamaraws to notch a 94-89 quarterfinals victory against their UAAP rivals, earlier today at The Arena in San Juan. The win booked the team a seat in the semifinals of the Fil-Oil Flying V Hanes Premier Cup against the SWU Cobras on June 6.

Thomas Torres was spectacular off the bench as he registered a game-high 23 points with 21 coming from three-point range.

It was a balanced attack from the Green-and-White squad as four other players scored in double figures. Arnold van Opstal earned a double-double performance of 16 points coupled with 12 rebounds. Meanwhile, Jeron Teng and Almond Vosotros chipped in 13 points each, while Jason Perkins added another 10 points.

FEU’s Mike Tolomia led the charge for the Tamaraws with 22 points, while Mac Belo added 18 of his own.

The Green Archers held a 12-point cushion, 83-71, early in the fourth period and were looking to cruise their way past FEU. However, the Morayta-based squad put up a scrambling defense against La Salle to score a 9-0 run, cutting their deficit to just three points. A Thomas Torres’ long distance conversion, his last field goal of the match, ended DLSU’s scoring drought to restore their advantage to six points.

However, the FEU duo of Tolomia and Belo again orchestrated another run to eventually snag the lead from DLSU at 87-86. The veteran Tolomia hit a contested three-point basket with just a little over a minute left in regulation, prompting the Green Archers to call a timeout.

A four-point swing by the Green Archers restored the lead, highlighted by a Van Opstal putback and a pair of freethrows. However, Tolomia answered back to put FEU within a point through another contested shot.

It was Vosotros who came up big in the clutch for DLSU, hitting both his foul shots to give the Green Archers a three-point lead with only 12 seconds remaining. Mac Belo missed a potential game-tying triple just before Teng sealed the win at the free throw line to end the game in favor of La Salle at 94-89.

Free throws have long haunted DLSU in the past few years, but this game proved to be set at a different tone as the Green Archers made their final six foul shots to keep FEU from taking the advantage at endgame.

Both teams started lethargically with each crew totaling just six points midway through the opening quarter. Neither team was able to take control of the game as the first canto featured eight lead changes and six deadlocks.

The second quarter saw a rally from the Taft-based squad as they built an early eight-point cushion behind back-to-back triples from Julian Sargent and Thomas Torres. FEU veteran Belo kept the Tamaraws in the game as he recorded nine markers to match across the board contributions of green-and-white players.

Although the second quarter saw both teams answering each other’s baskets, La Salle edged the Tamaraws with a late 9-3 surge which gave them a six point lead heading into the halftime break.

Coach Juno Sauler’s team came out of the halftime dugout with adjustments in mind as they came up with their biggest lead as the Thomas Torres converted six three-pointers to pad their lead to 12.

“It feels good actually, kasi nagmiss ako ng ilang games and I was really struggling. Matagal akong nawala but then again my teammates were there, the coaches were there, tinulungan talaga nila ako para makuha ulit yung game ko,” shared Torres on his breakout performance after on-court struggles on his previous outings.

The Green Archers will next face the Cebu powerhouse SWU Cobras in the semifinals on June 6, Friday at 2 pm in The Arena in San Juan. In their previous meeting during the tournament’s eliminations, the Taft-based squad prevailed over their CESAFI counterparts. .

The scores:

DLSU 94: T. Torres 23, van Opstal 16, Teng 13, Perkins 13, Vosotros 10, Rivero 6, N. Torres 4, Andrada 4, Sargent 3, Montalbo 2, Salem 1

FEU 89: Tolomia 22, Belo 18, Hargrove 15, Escoto 10, Pogoy 7, Inigo 4, Cruz 4, Jose 4, Tamsi 2, Escoto 2, David 2

Quarter scores: 16-15, 49-43, 78-69, 94-89