La Salle blows lead, escapes NU for first win on Kurt Lojera winner

Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines—Kurt Lojera saved De La Salle in crunch time for the 83-82 victory over National University in the UAAP Season 82 men’s basketball tournament Wednesday at Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Lojera drained the go-ahead jumper with 14.9 seconds left in the game just seconds after Shaun Ildefonso knocked down a 3-pointer to give NU an 82-81 lead.

The Green Archers led, 80-66, midway through the fourth but the Bulldogs staged a late 16-1 run culminating wit Ildefonso’s triple with 28.2 seconds left.

“One thing we can address is our inexperience, we’re a new staff, we’re a new team and when a team like that rattles you, the team will really look for familiarity” said La Salle head coach Gian Nazaario as the Green Archers went 1-1 in their first two games.

“We were rattled in the last quarter and good thing we were ale to make the short jumper in the corner.”

Justine Baltazar finished with 23 points and 10 rebounds while Jamie Malonzo had his own double-double of 14 points and 11 boards, eight coming in the offensive glass.

Ildefonso had a game-high 26 points with five steals to lead the 0-2 Bulldogs while John Lloyd Clemente added 19 points.