La Salle ends UAAP Finals drought, sets up historic title duel vs UP

La Salle guard Mark Nonoy.—MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines — For the first time ever, La Salle battles University of the Philiippines in the UAAP men’s basketball Finals.

The surging Green Archers finally ended a six-year Finals drought after eliminating the No.3 National University Bulldogs, 97-73, in their Season 86 Final Four clash on Saturday at Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Mark Nonoy shot four three-pointers to finish with 20 points as La Salle dominated NU by as many as 24 points, 70-46. He gave the Archers their first 24-point lead with a booming triple with under a minute left in the third quarter.

“It feels good to return to the Finals. We’re grateful to our supporters. We’re hoping for them to continue supporting us, the whole La Salle community. We will do our best for our school and we will prepare well for the Finals,” said Nonoy in Filipino, making his second UAAP Finals appearance after his first with University of Santo Tomas four years ago.

Kevin Quiambao, the MVP frontrunner, continued to deliver the goods for La Salle with 17 points and eight rebounds. Evan Nelle chipped in 15 points, eight assists, five rebounds, and two steals, while Michael Phillips had 11 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, and three steals.

Kevin Quiambao.–MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net

“We came into this game knowing that NU will throw everything at us. Coach Jeff and the rest of the [NU] coaching staff really did a tremendous job for them to be here,” said first-time La Salle coach Topex Robinson, who will be making his UAAP Finals debut next week.

“We just remind everybody that we’re going to go to the finals because we are gonna go and get it, not it being given us. So, we really have to earn every possession from the jumball up to that final buzzer in making sure that these guys will work together as a team. The breaks came our way, guys played the challenge and just competed with NU,” he added.

Brimming with confidence after winning nine straight games, the Green Archers are eyeing to end a seven-year title drought. They last won the title in 2016 when Aldin Ayo was still coaching the Ben Mbala-led team, which beat Ateneo in the Season 79 Finals.

The Archers will face the Fighting Maroons for the first time in the UAAP Finals since the school joined the league in 1986. The best-of-three Finals series opens on Wednesday at Mall of Asia Arena. UP turned back Ateneo, 57-46, in the other Final Four matchup earlier.

National U ended the season with three straight losses, settling for bronze for the second straight year.

Jake Figueroa carried the cudgels of the Bulldogs with 19 points and nine rebounds. Mike Malonzo had 13 points and eight rebounds, while Kean Baclaan tallied 12 points, seven rebounds, and six assists.

The scores: 

DLSU (97) – Nonoy 20, Quiambao 17, Nelle 15, M. Phillips 11, Escandor 9, Policarpio 9, David 5, Cortez 4, Macalalag 4, Abadam 3, Austria 0, Gollena 0, Nwankwo 0.

NU (73) – Figueroa 19, Malonzo 13, Baclaan 12, Palacielo 8, Yu 8, Jumamoy 7, Galinato 2, Manansala 2, Padrones 2, John 0, Lim 0, Enriquez 0, Gulapa 0, Casinillo 0, Parks 0.

Quarterscores: 20-14, 45-36, 70-50, 97-73