San Beda's Jake Pascual and Norbert Torres of La Salle battle for the balINQUIRER PHOTO/AUGUST DELA CRUZ
MANILA, Philippines — De La Salle outlasted erstwhile unbeaten San Beda, 50-46, Saturday night in an offensive struggle to set up an all-UAAP Finals with National University in the FilOil Flying V Preseason Hanes Cup at the jampacked San Juan Arena.
Norbert Torres put the Green Archers up by four, 46-42, on a three-point play with 51.5 seconds remaining.
LA Revilla sealed the game with two free throws with less than 10 seconds left after hitting a jumper that maintained a two-possession game for the Archers.
“I think our job of keeping them below 40% [shooting] is good enough for us,” said DLSU head coach Gee Abanilla. “It’s a tough win.”
Both teams shot below 35% from the field with San Beda shooting a percent lower than La Salle at 32.
Torres finished with 12 points and it turned out to be the game-high output as no other La Salle player hit double-figure in scoring.
San Beda played catch-up before Baser Amer tied the game at 38 with 5:51 left.
Jake Pascual knotted the game anew at 40 before Almond Vosotros’ triple at 2:28 gave the lead back to the Archers for good.
La Salle and NU, two teams which missed the UAAP final four last season, will battle it out on Tuesday in a win or go home affair for the plum.