MANILA, Philippines - La Salle, needing a victory to stay in the hunt for a quarterfinal berth, did just that, beating Arellano U, 89-60, at the close of its elimination round campaign in the Filoil Flying V First Five Invitational Cup at The Arena in San Juan.
The Green Archers, coming off back-to-back losses, dominated the Chiefs with a big second quarter run then posted leads of as many as 37 points, 70-33, to finish with a 4-3 (win-loss) slate and a crack at the No. 4 spot in Group A.
“In our last two games, we started flat. But in this game, I can say everybody really played well,” said La Salle coach Dindo Pumaren.
The Green Archers will clinch the fourth slot if San Beda College gets past Perpetual in their 3 p.m. match today.
A win by Perpetual, however, will boot out the Archers for the last quarter berth on winner-over-the-other rule.
The tournament is presented by Mighty Bond Extreme, with major sponsors Total Phils. Corp., San Marino Corned Tuna, Accel, Filoil Gas Company, Flying V and Hanesbrands, the official outfitter.
“We have a very small team. The only thing we can do is to sustain our team effort in order for us to win. We have to play defense first before offense,” Pumaren added.
Simon Atkins and rookie Jarelan Tampus led the Archers with 15 points apiece while Jovet Mendoza added 10 points.
Arellano failed to draw big games from gunners Adrian Celada and Isiah Ciriacruz, who struggled with 12 and eight points, respectively.
San Sebastian College outlasted a surprisingly-tough Mapua, 82-79, in overtime to close out its elims campaign in the other game.
Calvin Abueva tipped in a Ronald Pascual miss to send the game into overtime at 70-all then came through with one big play after another to steer the Stags to the victory over the also-ran Cardinals.
SSC thus finished with a 6-2 (win-loss) card in a tie with Far Eastern U.
The Stags could clinch the top spot in the quarters if Jose Rizal U (6-1) loses to Adamson in their game at 5 p.m. today.
A three-way tie among JRU, SSC-R and FEU will ensue with the Stags claiming the top spot with the highest quotient.
A win by JRU will give the Bombers the No. 1 seat, with FEU at No. 2 and San Sebastian settling for No. 3. Adamson gets the fourth and last group berth.
The Stags still trailed in the extra period, 72-79, but countered with a 10-0 run behind Abueva and Pascual to regain the lead at 82-79.
The Cardinals wound up with a 2-6 card.
Earlier, St. Benilde ended its campaign with an 83-66 rout of the RP Youth Nokia Pilipinas 18-Under squad.
Meanwhile, La Salle Greenhills played true to form as it dumped defending champion University of the East, 115-61, to advance to the quarterfinal round in the accompanying Badolato Juniors Cup earlier.
Coming off a victory against San Sebastian, the Greenies took control from start to finish, pulling away behind an 18-2 run early in the second quarter before sustaining their attack to storm to leads of as many as 42 points.
Tomas Torres made a game-high 27 points while four others also came through with double figures for the Greenies, who clinched the No. 3 spot in the quarters.
“I actually didn’t expect that we would win by this margin,” said LSGH coach Hubert delos Santos. “We are eyeing the number three spot and since we are following the quotient system, we must post a big lead to get our aim and so we really pushed ourselves.” – With reports from Kristina Villanueva and Aldo Aviñante