DLSU keeps Final 4 hopes alive

MANILA – The De La Salle Green Archers fought hard to live another day.

The Green Archers survived a furious rally by the University of Sto. Tomas (UST) Growling Tigers and escaped with a pulsating 68-64 victory in the 72nd UAAP men’s basketball at the Araneta Coliseum on Thursday.

Almost forgotten in La Salle’s scheme of things, veteran James Mangahas came through with his best performance to carry the Archers down the stretch.

Mangahas connected a deep trey in just 35.7 ticks left then foiled Dylan Ababou’s shot in the dying seconds of the game to secure La Salle’s victory.

“That’s the mark of a good player. He was sitting on the bench for the longest time but he accepted the challenge,” said La Salle coach Franz Pumaren on his ward’s gutsy performance.

Mangahas, who was not fielded in the first half, came off the bench to score 13 points in the payoff period. The 6’3” forward finished with a team-high 15 points in just 13 minutes of action.

The Tigers were silenced in the final 1:17 of play as they saw the disqualification of Khasim Mirza to fouls and Ababou’s failure to save them.

The loss denied UST an outright entry to the Final Four.

To make it to the semis, the Tigers (6-6) now would need to win at least one of their remaining two games and hope that La Salle (5-7) loses in its last two assignments.

UST will still have to face Adamson University and University of the East, while La Salle will need to battle Far Eastern University and National University.

Both teams can still possibly tie at 6-8. Should this happen, they will have to go through a knockout game for the last semis berth.

“We have to take care of our own business, especially FEU on Saturday.  If we’re lucky against a tough FEU squad, UE will go hard on UST to have a possible shot at No. 2,” Pumaren said.

The Scores:

DLSU 68 – Mangahas 15, Tolentino 10, Marata 8, Bagatsing 7, Barua 6, Villanueva 5, Co 5, Webb 4, Bringas 3, Andrada 3, Mendoza 2, Malabes 0, Banal 0.

UST 64 – Ababou 19, Mirza 12, Teng 10, Fortuna 10, Camus 8, Bautista 5, Ungria 0, Green 0, Afuang 0.

Quarters: 23-20, 42-30, 48-46, 68-64.

 

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