Initially holding a dominant lead, the DLSU Green Archers narrowly eluded the AdU Soaring Falcons following a late scare in the final period of their 19th Filoil EcoOil Preseason Cup encounter earlier tonight, June 14, at the Playtime Filoil Centre.
Jacob Cortez set the pace for the Green-and-White, anchoring their offense with 13 markers and five assists while Luis Pablo spearheaded the assault, making numerous drives to add 14 points to the board. Vhoris Marasigan also chipped in with 12 points.
Meanwhile, Jonah Precious’ barrage on the hardwood bagged him a game-high 16 points, while Manu Anabo and Mahathir Edding followed closely behind with 14 points apiece.
Widening the gap
The Green Archers established a swift dominance on the court, strategized by Cortez’s tactical reads as he opened it up with a steal and a putback in transition. Meanwhile, Earl Medina countered swiftly as he took advantage of an unset Green-and-White defense with Matthew Montebon following suit with another quick basket after Seven Gagate’s push down the lane bore no fruit. La Salle initially struggled to find an opening as repeated webs of passes could not lead to a conversion down the end with slashers such as JC Macalalag only finding results from the charity stripe. Cortez decided to take matters into his own hands with a jumper, pacing the lead at 9-5, and later furthered by Macalalag from the three-point line. An Edding-Montebon-led offense responded by capitalizing on missed attempts from DLSU through crafty drives into the defense. Despite this, the Taft-based squad was unfazed as they ignited a dominant 17-point streak through Earl Abadam and Mason Amos’ own powerful drives, 27-15. AdU would rediscover their offensive spark as they engaged in a back-and-forth tug, but the opening quarter concluded in the Green Archers’ favor, 31-19.
Kicking off the second quarter, La Salle crushed Adamson further with Cortez orchestrating consecutive buckets to leap toward an 11-0 run, 42-19, within the first two minutes. The Green Archers staged resilient possession of the ball, maximizing their shot clock as they strung together passes to find openings. The Adamsonians then bolstered their defenses and managed to slow the pace of the score, remedying the deficit by going bucket for bucket as time ticked down. Marasigan, however, maintained the gap, breaching the San Marcelino defense throughout the two-minute clinch, countering after every point, 50-31. As the quarter wound down, the Green Archers squeezed in free throws and a two-pointer to conclude the first half dominantly, 53-35.
Falcons fight back
The Green Archers maintained command coming out of halftime, steadily building on their double-digit lead behind contributions from both the starters and second unit. Marasigan and Macalalag helped set the tone early, while Cortez and Jason Cibull connected from beyond the arc to keep the Green-and-White comfortably ahead, 66-43. The white shirts showed more urgency on the offensive end compared to the first half, with Precious and Anabo finding success in the paint to help the Soaring Falcons trim the deficit several points in the quarter. However, the Taft-based squad continued responding to every run through their timely perimeter shooting and strong interior defense, preserving a 72-53 advantage heading into the final period.
What looked like a comfortable finish for the green shirts quickly unraveled as AdU turned the fourth quarter into a near-perfect outing. The momentum fully swung when the white shirts stacked stops and converted in transition, with Anabo burying a triple and Precious coming away with a steal before finishing in the paint to trim the lead to 74-67. Ray Allen Torres would add two more from the line, and Medina’s shot from beyond the arc finally tied the game at a 74-all deadlock. Even after Marasigan finally stopped the bleeding at 76-74, the squad from San Marcelino refused to back down with Montebon drawing an and-one to flip the lead back to their favor, 77-76. The Taft-based squad responded through Amos’ jumper and back-to-back baskets from Pablo to regain control at 82-77, but Anabo kept the Falcons alive with a clutch triple that trimmed it to two. Cortez then delivered the biggest shot of the stretch, drilling a dagger three to push it back to 85-80, before Medina’s costly five-second inbound violation derailed Adamson’s last real chance. Precious added a final slam off a turnover, but DLSU ran the clock out to secure the win, 85-82.
Despite Adamson’s late surge, the Green Archers managed to hang on and now look to carry that winning momentum into their next assignment against the Gilas Pilipinas Youth squad on Thursday, June 18, at the same venue.
DLSU 85 – Pablo 14, Cortez 13, Marasigan 12, Abadam 9, Amos 7, Cibull 7, Macalalag 7, Melencio 7, Dungo 5, Daep 2, Gollena 2, Gagate 0, Quines 0, Sharma 0
AdU 82 – Precious 16, Anabo 14, Edding 14, Montebon 13, Medina 8, Sajili 6, Torres 4, Jaymalin 3, Cruz-Dumont 2, Demisana 1, Mangaron 1, Cañete 0, Pacquiao 0, Perez 0
Quarter Scores: 31-19, 53-35, 72-53, 85-82