In their UAAP Season 86 Finals rematch, the DLSU Green Archers stamped their championship mentality in their gritty win over the UP Fighting Maroons, 68-56, in their UAAP Season 87 Men’s Basketball Tournament Round One meeting earlier tonight, October 6, at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
Kevin Quiambao earned his crown as the Player of the Game after putting up 20 points, 10 rebounds, three assists, one block, and a steal in their box office victory. Joshua David echoed the reigning MVP’s performance through his senior composure, tallying 14 points and seven rebounds on 66.7-percent shooting from the three-point line.
Harold Alarcon led the Fighting Maroons in his third-quarter outburst, finishing with 19 points, five rebounds, and three steals. Meanwhile, Quentin Millora-Brown held the fort inside for UP with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Defensive masterclass
Following an emphatic start to their title-defense campaign—with their record only blemished by their unexpected loss against the UE Red Warriors—the defending DLSU Green Archers, went straight to work in their highly anticipated rivalry game against the undefeated UP Fighting Maroons. King Archer Quiambao led the charge by scoring nine of La Salle’s first 12 points in the ball game by drilling shots from long distances and taking trips to the charity stripe after drawing fouls from his primary defender Mark Belmonte, 12-7. Without the presence of veteran guard JD Cagulangan, the team from Diliman turned to Janjan Felicilda and Terrence Fortea to handle the rock. But the DLSU’s defensive prowess wreaked havoc on the wings, forcing turnovers and heavily contesting shots.
With less than two minutes left in the first canto, the Taft-based squad continued their offensive barrage as Vhoris Marasigan drove down the middle to reward himself with two freebies thanks to a foul while Joshua David knocked down a left-corner triple to give DLSU an eight-point cushion, 19-11. In an attempt to calm the Green-and-White offensive storm, rising star Francis Lopez cut La Salle’s advantage to six with a bank shot jumper in the dying seconds of the opening quarter, 19-13.
The Green Archers maintained their aggressive attacks during the second frame, with the shock troops trio Marasigan, Earl Abadam, and Jcee Macalalag slicing their way to the cup to spark a 7-0 run in just two minutes, 26-13. Even after calling a timeout, the Fighting Maroons had no answer for their opponent’s bothersome man-to-man defense that allowed La Salle to convert on golden opportunities at the other end of the floor. After a four-minute scoring drought for the Fighting Maroons, a Ramiro catch-and-shoot triple from the corner extended DLSU’s commanding lead to 20 points at the 4:10 mark, 35-15. Athletic winger Lopez attempted to bring his team back to life by getting to the free throw line at will, but he, along with his teammates, shot poorly from 15 feet, unable to stop the bleeding. Despite a couple of buckets from UP at the stripe and the perimeter that chipped away their lead, La Salle maintained their advantage and kept up their pesky defense to lock down their foes from initiating a fierce run, ending the first half with a 38-25 edge.
Losing their grip, but kept their cool
Entering the second half with a comfortable 13-point lead, the Green Archers looked to continue their dominant display with their fluid ball movement and hot shooting. However, DLSU immediately faced startling hurdles at the beginning of the second half. UP brought newfound confidence and aggression, attacking DLSU’s defense to cut the Lasallian lead to nine only three minutes in, 40-31. La Salle looked to halt the Diliman-based squad’s run but was cold from the field and unable to grab points despite their work inside the paint. Alarcon continued to punish La Salle, using his speed to drive past his defender for points off the dribble to cut the lead to five but also force a timeout with 6:29 left on the clock. With two minutes left, Quiambao took over and showed off his MVP-caliber performance with his hot shooting, which inspired his team to be more aggressive on both sides, 49-42. The Green Archers again held onto the lead, trading baskets with the Fighting Maroons, and closed off the third quarter with a five-point lead, 51-46.
La Salle remained composed as the final quarter began, attempting to keep their advantage by hustling on both sides of the court. Fortea went on a personal 5-0 run after gaining his shooting rhythm to cut the Green Archers lead to four, 55-51. However, the small-ball lineup of DLSU found the grit to grab second chances and capitalize on their labor to extend their lead to eight and forced UP to call a timeout with six minutes left, 59-51. Lopez looked to power his side back, showing off his superb athleticism to overpower his defenders, 62-53. The Green Archers found the UP defense harder to penetrate as the clock winded down but eventually mirrored their opposition by tightening their defense. With 3:45 left, Quiambao put La Salle’s lead back to double digits with another long-range shot to frustrate the UP squad, 65-53. The defending champions put the icing on top of the cake in this victory, maintaining their discipline in defense before David threw a dagger three straight to the Fighting Maroons’ hearts to seal the victory for the Green Archers, 68-54.
After ending the first round of the tournament atop the standings following their valiant victory, Coach Gian Nazario exclaimed how happy the Green Archers were with their performance against the fearsome Fighting Maroons, sharing, “We were just very happy [with] how things turned out. We know it’s going to be a grind-out game—a game of runs—and we were able to weather the storm. Alam naman naming lahat what UP can do—what they’re capable of doing—and we’re just happy that all the players responded well.”
As the Green Archers await the schedule for Round Two, David expressed that La Salle cannot afford to be complacent entering the next round as they need to improve upon their many mistakes.
“Magandang panalo ‘to sa amin, pero kung titingnan niyo parang [ang] dami [naming] errors. So, kailangan sa second round matama na [ang mga] errors namin. Kasi alam naman natin na sa second round [ay ang] game of adjustments, kaya kailangan maging ready pa sa second round,” explained the do-it-all guard.
(This is a good win, but looking at the game, we had a lot of errors. So, we have to correct these errors in the second round. We all know that the second round is a game of adjustments, so we have to be more ready in the second round.)
Player of the Game Quiambao echoed David’s words by affirming that the team from Taft will look to work on their deficiencies and set their focus on preparing for the next round of games.
“‘Yung pagkatalo namin sa UE, it was a wake-up call na marami pa kaming kailangan i-improve. This game talagang sobrang gigil kami na makuha ‘tong panalo na dahil madami pa kaming kailangan i-improve; and kahit na-execute namin plays namin, [marami] pa ring kulang. Coming into this second round, focused kami sa next game namin. Kinabukasan bagong araw na naman.”
(The way we lost to UE, it was a wake-up call that we still have a lot to improve on. This game, we were really eager to get the win since we still had a lot to improve on and even if we executed our plays, we still had a lot of gaps. Coming into this second round, we are focused on the next game. Tomorrow is another day.)
The Scores:
DLSU 68 – Quiambao 20, David 14, Macalalag 7, Abadam 5, Ramiro 5, Marasigan 5, Phillips 4, Gollena 4, Agunanne 2, Austria 2, Gonzales 0
UP 56 – Alarcon 19, Millora-Brown 10, Lopez 8, Torres 6, Fortea 5, Belmonte 5, Stevens 0, Torculas 0, Ududo 0, Felicilda 0
Quarter Scores: 19-13, 38-25, 51-46, 68-56
