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Defending champion La Salle gifted its head coach Aldin Ayo with a vengeful 85-62 win over University of the Philippines in the UAAP Season 80 men’s basketball tournament Sunday at Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan.
The No. 2 Green Archers improved to 7-2 after winning their fourth game in five while the Fighting Maroons dropped to fifth with a 4-5 card.
La Salle ended the first half on a strong note as it built a 24-point lead, 51-27, heading into the third quarter.
Santi Santillan then gave the Green Archers their biggest lead at 60-32 with 6:06 still remaining in the third.
“I think we thought of revenge a little bit after we lost in the first round,” said La Salle center Ben Mbala as La Salle suffered a 98-87 loss to UP in first round. “But we just have to stick to the game plan and find out what we did wrong earlier.”
After lighting up La Salle with a career-high 30 points in the first round, Paul Desiderio struggled against the defense of Mbala who limited him to seven points on 2-of13 shooting with both of his field goals coming in the first half.
Desiderio, however, wasn’t as successful on the defensive end when he guarded Mbala as the MVP put up 27 points and grabbed 14 rebounds.
Ricci Rivero added 20 points for the Green Archers.
Jun Manzo led UP with 13 points, all coming in the third quarter.