UAAP: UP stops skid, slips past La Salle

University of the Philippines put a stop to its downward spiral after a 67-61 victory over De La Salle in the UAAP Season 81 men’s basketball tournament Sunday at Mall of Asia Arena.

The Fighting Maroons were on a three-game slide prior to facing the Green Archers but their win bumped to a 2-3 card for the fifth spot in the standings.

After trailing for much of the first half, UP started to heat up early in the third going on a 14-2 run to take a 43-37 lead off of Juan Gomez de Liaño’s transition layup.

The Fighting Maroons started the fourth on a 10-2 run that Diego Dario capped off with a jumper for their 61-47 lead, but but La Salle didn’t go down with the fight, cutting UP’s lead to one after a 13-0 blast.

Gomez de Liaño, though, took over and delivered the big shots down the stretch to save the Fighting Maroons.

Season 80’s Rookie of the Year scored four of UP’s last six points but it was his dagger of a layup with 44.3 seconds left, giving the Fighting Maroons a 65-60 lead, that became the game’s biggest shot.

“I think we all know that our end game but there’s much to be desired with how we ended the game, we can’t forget the fact that we won it, but we would’ve wanted to be better in the end game,” said UP head coach Bo Perasol.

“We need these kinds of wins, though, so that we’ll know how to get better.”

Bright Akhuetie put up a 19-point, 19-rebound double-double for the Fighting Maroons while Gomez de Liaño had 17 points and six asssits.

Paul Desiderio also finished in double figures in scoring with 12 points, on 4-of-14 shooting, with seven rebounds and four steals.

Justine Baltazar led the 2-2 Green Archers with 13 points and 10 boards while frontcourt partner Santi Santillan had 12 points and 11 rebounds.

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