MANILA, Philippines – Not yet, say the defending UAAP men’s basketball champions.
The La Salle Green Archers avoided a Season 87 finals sweep at the hands of the UP Fighting Maroons, earning a highly cardiac 76-75 Game 2 win to force a do-or-die clash in front of a packed crowd of 17,112 at the Mall of Asia Arena on Wednesday, December 11.
The win pushes the vaunted Taft program on the cusp of its 11th men’s basketball title and its first successful title defense in the last four attempts, while also kicking UP down its fifth straight finals Game 2 loss dating back to its Season 81 breakthrough in 2018.
Enduring JD Cagulangan’s torrid triple spree in UP’s breakaway third quarter, La Salle slowly pulled back in the fourth, getting within four after a booming triple from two-time MVP Kevin Quiambao, 67-63 with 6:24 to play.
Unfazed with UP’s charge, Quiambao kept going in the clutch, drilling a huge three after huge three to take a 74-73 lead with 1:13 left, before Quentin Millora-Brown and Mike Phillips traded jabs for a 76-75 La Salle advantage, all the way from a 73-66 deficit with 4:35 remaining.
That, however, would be the final score as Francis Lopez put up an absolute stinker of an endgame, blowing four straight free throws and causing a turnover with 15 seconds left off a rebounded Phillips missed free throw.
Quiambao finished the emotional win with 22 points — half coming in the fourth quarter — on top of 9 rebounds and 2 assists, backstopped by an 18-point, 12-board double-double from Phillips.
Cagulangan, Lopez, and Gerry Abadiano all scored 16 in the heartbreaking defeat.
La Salle and UP meet for one last clash on Sunday, December 15, at the Araneta Coliseum.
The Scores
LA SALLE 76 – Quiambao 22, M. Phillips 18, Macalalag 9, Gollena 9, Gonzales 8, Austria 5, David 3, Agunanne 2, Ramiro 0, Rubico 0, Marasigan 0.
UP 75 – Cagulangan 16, Lopez 16, Abadiano 16, Millora-Brown 11, Alarcon 5, Torres 5, Ududo 2, Torculas 2, Stevens 2, Bayla 0, Fortea 0, Felicilda 0.
Quarters: 28-22, 39-36, 54-62, 76-75.
– Rappler.com
