UAAP: La Salle survives tenacious UST rally

Cris Camus of UST and Jarelan Tampus of La Salle both fall on the floor during their game Thursday, Aug. 11, 2011, at the 74th season of the UAAP men’s basketball tournament at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City. The Archers got a scare after the Tigers whittled down their 20-point lead to one at the closing seconds of the game but held on to win, 74-71. AUGUST DELA CRUZ/INQUIRER

MANILA—La Salle squandered a 23-point advantage, but picked up in time to repulse a scrambling University of Santo Tomas, 74-71, Thursday in the night cap of the 74th UAAP men’s basketball tournament.

Stocky Norbert Torres shone in a career-best 21 points as he nailed two pressure-packed free throws with 16.4 ticks remaining that gave La Salle, which is at 4-3 at the end of first round, a 72-69 breather down the stretch.

“We [the coaching staff] have a lot of confidence in Norbert [Torres]. You will see more from him,” said coach Dindo Pumaren, as his squad dominated the Growling Tigers for the seventh straight contest.

But what looked like a done deal at the half turned into a taut affair as UST came roaring back from a 26-49 hole, to slash La Salle’s lead to the closest of one in under 20 ticks left.

The Archers, though, had built enough of a cushion that helped them survive the furious fight back by the Growling Tigers.

Sophomore slasher Jarelan Tampus, who finished with 14 points behind Torres, made amends for his missed free throws by relishing a second chance at the stripe, which ultimately sealed La Salle’s fourth triumph in seven starts.

Tampus recovered his own miss as he tangled with UST’s Cameroonian reinforcement Karim Abdul, which paved way for the game-clinching freebies with 11.5 seconds remaining.

“We played La Salle basketball in the first half, but the rhythm changed for the boys in the second half,” said Pumaren, who pointed out the loss to injury of skipper Simon Atkins as the game-changer.

Atkins suffered a blow to the head after colliding with Abdul early in the third period where the Archers were outgunned by the Tigers, 7-17.

UST, which lost four of its seven assignments for a fifth place finish in the conclusion of the first round of eliminations, had a chance to tie the game, but rookie Kevin Ferrer misfired on a fall away trey as time expired.

The Tigers kept striking to trim the lead in the fourth quarter spearheaded by dauntless guards Jeric Fortuna, Jeric Teng and Abdul but each run was doused by bail out triples by La Salle.

Luigi Dela Paz knocked in a triple with 5:57 left, followed by Sam Marata’s at the 4:50 mark which kept La Salle’s head above water.

But Abdul finally brought UST to within 69-70 with 18.1 second left in the clock, then connected on a baseline gimme off the inbound from Teng with 12.9, but failed to secure the leather after the Tampus miss.

Abdul, who finally fixed his papers which makes him eligible to play in the UAAP as per Fortuna, commanded in the paint with 21 points and 11 rebounds.

Fortuna, who cramped up and had to be carried out of the court with over a minute left, scored 20 points, five rebounds, four dimes and two steals while Teng, who was sidelined for most of last game due to an ankle sprain, bounced back with 14 points.