Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
Showing no mercy, La Salle further embellished its assault on an elimination round sweep of the UAAP men’s basketball championship with another bamboozling of the University of Santo Tomas.
The Archers trailed briefly early before putting on the heat that left the Growling Tigers dazed as La Salle roared to a 99-56 victory—its 11th straight—at Smart Araneta Coliseum and swept its series with Santo Tomas for the season by a combined margin of 91 points.
“We want to play the whole game strongly,” said Paolo Sauler, La Salle’s skills coach who spoke on behalf of Aldin Ayo.
Ayo left the venue in a huff, but not after being able to experiment on new combinations on the floor as he readies the Archers for an even bigger task later in the season: A return to the throne.
In the event that the Archers fail in their sweep bid, the victory guaranteed them of a twice-to-beat privilege in the Final Four, assured of finishing in the top two.
The Tigers, who lost the first meeting, 100-62, held a 10-5 lead before the Archers started taking them apart.
Ben Mbala scored on a followup dunk to make it 13-12 with 3:09 left in the first. It was all La Salle from there as the Archers dealt the Tigers an eighth loss in 11 games.
The celebrated La Salle import finished with 21 points, 15 rebounds and five blocks.
Jeron Teng had 16 points with Justine Baltazar finishing with 12 rebounds and 10 points.
Ateneo got 20 points from Raffy Verano in an impressive 65-50 victory over National University in the second game.
The Eagles improved to 6-4 for solo third as the Bulldogs dropped to 4-7.