Archers shoot down Tigers

MANILA, Philippines — La Salle threw its might on Santo Tomas, running away with an emphatic 92-77 win to end its 82nd UAAP men’s basketball tournament first-round campaign on a high note yesterday at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.

Encho Serrano chalked up a career-best 29 points on a 13-of-22 shooting to go along five rebounds and two assists for the Archers, who were on target this time with a 50-percent clip, including an impressive 8-of-16 from beyond the arc.

Aljun Melecio, who committed a costly turnover in La Salle’s painful loss versus UP earlier this week, redeemed himself with 26 markers built on six triples to provide solid back-up role to Serrano as the Archers improved to 3-4 entering the crucial second round.

“We were due to win. We’re just talking about it, if we follow the game plan, the results will follow. We played well against Adamson and we were eight seconds unlucky versus UP but this time, we made sure that we will finish the game well and we did,” said head coach Gian Nazario as Jaime Malonzo (13), Jordan Bartlett (7) and Andrei Caracut (6) provided help for Serrano and Melecio.

In the second match, FEU stunned Adamson with a 83-71 victory to forge a three-way logjam at No. 4 after the first round.

Earlier this week, the Archers lost a golden chance to barge into the top four against the Maroons as they faltered in the end-game courtesy of Juan Gomez de Liano’s game-winner in the last 7.8 seconds.

With Serrano and Melecio clicking from all angles this time, the Archers would not suffer another meltdown as they banked on a strong 42-32 halftime start to score the convincing win against a very formidable UST squad.

The Tigers, behind Brent Paraiso who had his own career outing, tried to claw back into the game numerous times with the closest at 50-54. But Serrano and Melecio were too much to handle for them as the Archers took a comfortable 68-57 cushion entering the payoff period.  

The scores:

La Salle 92 -- Serrano 29, Melecio 26, Malonzo 13, Bartlett 7, Caracut 6, Baltazar 4, Hill 3, Bates 2, Manuel 2, Laput 0.

UST 77 -- Paraiso 22, Chabi Yo 16, Abando 9, Nonoy 9, Concepcion 8, Huang 4, Subido 4, Ando 2, Cansino 2, Bataller 1, Cuajao 0, Pangilinan 0.

Quarterscores: 20-14, 42-32, 67-58, 92-77

Second Game

FEU 83 - Tchuente 21, Torres 21, Stockton 10, Comboy 9, Gonzales 9, Eboña 8, Nunag 4, Cani 1, Alforque 0, Bienes 0, Tuffin 0.

Adamson 71 - Chauca 14, Ahanmisi 12, Douanga 11, Manlapaz 10, Camacho 7, Yerro 7, Lastimosa 4, Mojica 4, Zaldivar 2, Bernardo 0, Flowers 0, Fermin 0, Magbuhos 0, Orquez 0.

Quarterscores: 22-15, 38-31, 68-52, 83-71