La Salle remains in contention for final 4 after escaping UP

TOOTH AND NAIL. Mark Juruena of the University of the Philippines tries to protect the ball as Samuel Marata of La Salle poses a threat during the 74th UAAP men’s basketball tournament on Sunday. La Salle won by just a point, 73-72. PHOTO BY AUGUST DE LA CRUZ

MANILA—Down, but not out.

La Salle resuscitated its flat-lining final-four bid after battling back from 20 points down and escaped a gritty University of the Philippines, 73-72, Sunday in the 74th UAAP men’s basketball tournament.

The diminutive guard Almond Vosotros played like he was the tallest player on the court as he unleashed all but two of his 12 points including sparkplug of a triple in the determining 9-0 blast for La Salle with just two minutes gone by in the fourth quarter.

Vosotros, who was scoreless the entire first half, also gave the Green Archers their first lead of the game, 48-47, on a swift jumper with 10 ticks left in the third after his squad simply looked on while the Fighting Maroons toted a double-digit advantage.

The run—which gave La Salle a 57-50 buffer with 7:56 play—collectively stirred the Green Archers into not letting the Fighting Maroons taste the lead anew in the entire fourth quarter with Vosotros, LA Revilla, who had 11 points, and Norbert Torres, who had a team-best 15 points, taking turns in scoring.

“They woke up from an ugly performance in the first half. I think they got really affected with UST’s win over Adamson [Saturday] and thought we didn’t have a chance anymore,” La Salle coach Dindo Pumaren told the reporters after the game.

The Green Archers, though, remain hanging by a thread in the homestretch of the eliminations because merely one loss, or even a victory by the Growling Tigers, will chuck them out of contention.

“We just have to take care of our business. At least we have a slim chance,” added Pumaren as his squad faces National University and Far Eastern University next week—same schedule with UST.

La Salle’s survival, though, hinged on a split from the stripe by Torres, whose scoring output came with 12 rebounds, after the Maroons came within just a basket again with 16.1 seconds remaining.

UP had a shot at a game-tying trey but Mike Gamboa misfired twice before Paolo Romero, who also connected on a hook in the previous possession, scored on a putback as the buzzer expired, but not enough to forge overtime.

Mike Silungan, who scored 17 of his total 19 points in the second half, led the Maroons in a losing cause while Miggy Maniego added 14, Romeo and Gamboa with 12.

After losing the 31-11 lead they erected in the second quarter and trailed for most of the payoff period, the Maroons were determined to play spoilsport to La Salle’s bid as they also came within 58-59 on five unanswered points by Maniego.

But Vosotros and De la Paz knocked down back-to-back triples that halted the short run for the Green Archers.