Archers hand Maroons' 1st loss

MANILA, Philippines -- Down goes UP.

The La Salle Green Archers dealt the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons their first loss in the UAAP Season 87 men’s basketball, 68-56, in last season’s finals rematch Sunday night at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.

In front of a capacity crowd of 16,106, La Salle fought off a furious rally by UP and pulled away in the fourth quarter to tally their third straight win in the tourney.

Reigning Most Valuable Player Kevin Quiambao paced the Green Archers with 20 points, 10 rebounds and three assists in 32 minutes. Joshua David added 14 markers and seven boards.

The Taft-based squad started off the match hot, taking a 20-point lead, 35-15, in the second quarter.

UP, though, clawed back and unleashed a 27-7 run capped by a layup by Harold Alarcon to tie things up at 42 late in the third quarter.

However, Lian Ramiro and Quiambao teamed up and uncorked a 7-0 run by themselves to keep the Diliman-based cagers at bay, 49-42.

In the fourth quarter, UP was able to keep in step as a Terrence Fortea 3-pointer cut the deficit to four, 49-53, with 8:04 to go.

La Salle, then, finished the game off with a backbreaking 12-4 run capped by a Quiambao triple to go up by 12, 65-53, with 3:45 remaining in the game.

A David triple with less than a minute left put the icing on the cake.

“We’re just very happy on how things turned out. We know it’s gonna be a grind out game. We know it’s gonna be a game of runs. Sabi nga, we’re able to weather the storm,” La Salle assistant coach Gian Nazario said. 

“Alam naman namin what UP can do and capable of doing. We’re just happy the players responded,” he added. 

JC Macalalag produced seven points and three rebounds for the defending champions, while Ramiro, Earl Abadam and Vhoris Marasigan had five each.

Alarcon top-scored for UP with 19 points and five rebounds, along with three steals. Quentin Millora-Brown had a double-double of 10 markers and 10 boards for the Fighting maroons, who played without ace JD Cagulangan for the second straight game.

Both teams are now holding 6-1 win-loss records heading into the second round of the competition.