Mike Phillips came alive late in the fourth quarter to lift defending champion De La Salle University past feisty Far Eastern University, 58-53, for its eighth straight victory in the UAAP Season 87 men’s basketball tournament at the Mall of Asia Arena on Wednesday.
The Green Archers are not only riding on a crest of an eight-game winning streak for a dominant 11-1 record, but they have also been gifted the first of two coveted twice-to-beat berths following FEU’s previous victory over University of the East last week.
Phillips turned in a 17-point, 15-rebound double-double effort that came with five steals and two blocks to lead all scorers in the tight affair.
With the weary reigning MVP Kevin Quiambao opting to be benched in the endgame, JC Macalalag delivered nine points on an efficient four-of-five shooting, while Andrei Dungo added eight points.
La Salle bucked a slow start and dug itself out of a 12-24 hole in the second quarter before regaining consciousness and fighting back with a 24-2 blitz to briefly gain the upper hand, 36-26.
However, FEU also came back to its senses with Royce Alforque taking charge with a personal seven-point swing capped by a difficult and-1 floater to end the third quarter with a slim 41-40 lead in favor of the Tamaraws.
Before the Tamaraws could pull away for good in the last two minutes of the game, the Green Archers steadily erased another five-point deficit as Phillips provided crucial defensive help and huge plays including a booming dunk and back-to-back tightly-contested hook shots.
“We have to give it to FEU, Sean [Chambers] is really doing a good job there doing what he can for a young team. We just tried to grind it out with them, we knew it was gonna be a fast paced game. We just tried to keep it simple on our end. We did what we were supposed to do, and that was to limit their scoring,” said La Salle head coach Topex Robinson.
Mo Konateh paced the Tamaraws with his own double-double performance of 14 points on top of a season-high 27 rebounds, which went for naught as they slid to 4-7 in the standings.
Rookie guard Veejay Pre posted 12 points and grabbed five rebounds, while Alforque and Janrey Pasaol had 11 points apiece in the losing effort.
—JKC, GMA Integrated News
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