The DLSU Green Archers suffered their second loss of the season at the hands of the UE Red Warriors, 89-88, earlier today at the Mall of Asia Arena. The Green-and-White now sports a 1-2 win-loss record, while the Red-and-White is now 1-3 in the tournament.
Rey Suerte led the Red Warriors to their first victory of the season, as he recorded a game-high 31 points. Neil Tolentino and Jem Cruz also scored in double-digits with 19 and 13 points, respectively.
In the losing effort, Justine Baltazar and Aljun Melecio led their team with 21 points apiece. Andrei Caracut followed with 16 points and six assists. However, these were not enough to overcome the valiant efforts of the UE squad, who tallied a 39.29 shooting percentage from beyond the arc.
Inconsistent first half
The first half kicked off with a jump shot from Caracut at the 9:39 mark, while Suerte responded with a running layup to tie the game. Melecio answered with a jumper of his own to give the Green-and-White the lead, but Cruz replied with a three-pointer to give UE a 5-4 advantage.
It was back-and-forth action in the first quarter as both teams showed resilience offensively until the final two minutes when Suerte hit a three-pointer to give his side a four-point lead. Tolentino further boosted the lead to six with a fastbreak layup, giving the Red Warriors a 24-18 advantage. Caracut and Encho Serrano tried to stop the bleeding momentarily with a floater and a fast break layup, respectively, to cut the deficit to two, 26-24.
The final 24 seconds of the first period witnessed a scrambled play leading to many offensive rebounds for UE and a buzzer-beating offensive putback by Tolentino to give them a 28-24 advantage over La Salle.
In the opening moments of the next quarter, Suerte increased UE’s lead to seven points with a three-pointer. The Green Archers tried to counter with a Jordan Bartlett steal and fastbreak layup, 31-28, with 8:02 to go in the period.
At the 5:01 mark, Melecio fouled Suerte leading to a penalty situation for DLSU. Suerte made both free throws, which allowed his team to lead by six, 37-31. The Red Warriors increased their offensive tempo and their relentless defense, which caused the Taft-based squad to score only six points in the final four minutes of the half.
After Tolentino and Suerte combined for a 7-0 UE run, the second quarter ended with Lasallian Joaqui Manuel’s driving layup to bring the gap to 11 points, 48-37.
Speaking about the team’s early struggles, Caracut expressed, “Effort [was what we lacked]; go with the flow lang kami eh. Nakikita ko walang effort [and] walang gustong bumaba.”
(Effort [was what we lacked]; we were just going with the flow. I saw the lack of effort and the reluctance to drop back on defense.)
Falling short at the buzzer
Looking to bounce back from a shaky first half, the Green Archers headed into the second half with a new sense of urgency. To trim the lead, the Taft-based squad executed an 8-0 run early in the third period, with Baltazar spearheading the run—contributing to six of the eight points. However, UE’s Jed Mendoza quickly halted the said run with a layup over the outstretched arms of Baltazar.
The rest of the third period saw the two teams exchange baskets, with James Laput ending the third frame by splitting his free throws. The quarter ended, 70-63, in favor of the Red-and-White.
It looked to be the same story heading into the final period of action, as Serrano and Harvey Pagsanjan traded three-point field goals at the 8:22 mark. One player who found his stroke in the fourth frame is Melecio, as he scored 11 markers in the quarter.
Heading into the final two minutes of the game, the team from Taft rallied to execute a 9-0 run, with Serrano capping the run off with a fastbreak layup plus a foul. This gave the Green-and-White their first lead of the second half, 83-81, with 1:07 left to play. The lead though was short-lived, as UE’s Chris Connor was able to convert on two clutch free throws to tie the game, 83-all.
With 15 seconds left to play and momentum shifting toward the Lasallians, Suerte knocked down a three-point field goal from the elbow, giving the Red Warriors a one-point advantage, 86-85. Looking for a basket, the Green Archers turned to Melecio, who converted the go-ahead three-point basket to give DLSU the lead once again, 88-86. With the shot-clock turned off and the game on the line, UE relied on their leading scorer, Suerte, as he sank the pull-up three-point shot over Caracut and grabbed the win, 89-88.
After the game, active consultant Jermaine Byrd encouraged the team, “A lot of people are going to write us off in the media. We have to stick together. It’s not the end of the season; we have to fight through adversity.”
The Green Archers look to get back in stride in a matchup against the FEU Tamaraws on Wednesday, September 18, at 4 pm at the same venue.
