The DLSU Green Archers suffered another late-game heartbreak, falling to the AdU Soaring Falcons, 63-30, to close out Round 1 of the UAAP Season 89 Men’s Basketball Tournament earlier tonight, October 18, at the Blue Eagle Gym.
Jacob Cortez and Henry Agunanne led the Taft-based squad with 12 points apiece, with Cortez also dishing four assists and Agunanne tallying 10 rebounds. Pitching in with nine markers was team captain Earl Abadam, while big men Mason Amos and Luis Pablo also dropped six points each in the loss.
On the other end of the court, Matty Erolon led the Soaring Falcons with 14 points, backed up by Monty Montebon’s 11 markers as the Ermita-based squad bagged the dub.
Gaining ground
Entering the hostile Blue Eagle Gym, Head Coach Topex Robinson fielded a new iteration of the starting five with Doy Dungo and Agunnane designed to neutralize the potent Adamson perimeter threat. However, the tactical adjustment initially misfired. The Green Archers were immediately bogged down by offensive stagnation, unforced errors, and a dismal shooting clip. Capitalizing on the Taft-based squad’s struggles, Manu Anabo and Precious Jonah bulldozed their way to an early cushion. The glaring free-throw disparity caused tempers to flare, culminating in a technical foul on Coach Robinson. Punctuated by a late Montebon three, the miserable opening period left La Salle staring down a daunting 23-10 hole.
Refusing to yield, the Green-and-White flipped the script in the second frame by tightening their defensive screws. Jacob Cortez sparked the sudden revival with a midrange jumper to open up the quarter and then feeding both Abadam and Pablo inside. Anchored by suffocating perimeter pressure, the Lasallians unleashed a blistering nine-to-zero run to slash the deficit to four, 23-19, forcing the Falcons to take a timeout. Although Ray Torres briefly stopped the bleeding with a long-range bomb, DLSU established their defensive identity. Pablo transformed the paint into a no-fly zone, anchoring a defensive masterclass that limited AdU to a mere five points in the final points entering the final four minutes of the half. Capped off by a timely Vhoris Marasigan tip-in and relentless hustle plays, the Archers weathered the onslaught, heading into the locker room within striking distance, 36-28.
Falling short
La Salle’s third quarter was mired in chaos, with the boys in green struggling to build momentum. While Amos tried closing the eight-point gap at the charity stripe, Jonah responded with a ferocious dunk courtesy of Montebon’s dime. Amos continued to keep the Taft-based squad in the fight with an inside shot and a block on Jonah, but an Anabo mid-range jumper kept the Soaring Falcons ahead by nine, 40-31. Field goals from Abadam and Amos trimmed the Adamon advantage to five, but a Montebon triple kept hopes of a run slim. After Amos and Montebon exchanged buckets, the Green-and-White’s chance to build momentum after Pablo’s two-way block into a bucket was cut short after DLSU’s Lebron Daep was sidelined due to a flagrant foul from Kobe Demisina. The shot clock, which had malfunctioned twice prior, would also cause additional delays in the waning stages of the third quarter killing the Lasallian pacing, and culminating in a 51-41 Adamson lead after a 6-0 run.
The Taft-based squad showed comeback signs in the fourth, with Agunanne’s thunderous slam sparking a 7-0 La Salle run, keeping the greenshirts within one, 51-50. Jonah’s and-one would taper the Green Archers’ offense, but Tovera and Cortez dropped back-to-back long bombs on the Ermita-based squad, giving DLSU the lead for the first time since the first quarter, 56-54. Markers from Edding and Ray Allen Torres turned the tides of battle back in favor of the boys in blue, 57-56. A putback from Agunanne put the Archers back on top 58-57, only to be tied up by Montebon from the line at 58-all. After a careless shot clock turnover by La Salle, Erolon sank a triple to put Adamson up three. Anabo would put the nail in the coffin with two free throws after a failed Green Archers triple attempt, and despite Agunanne hustling another putback, the Green-and-White comeback came up short, losing to the Soaring Falcons 63-60.
The DLSU Green Archers end their first round with a 3-4 record, tied for second-last in the standings with the ADMU Blue Eagles. They look to return to the win column in their first game of the second round against the UE Red Warriors on Wednesday, October 21, at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.