Martin San Diego | FCF
No, it’s not University of Santo Tomas’ day today.
Despite a partisan crowd of black and gold taking the lion’s share of the 23,037 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Saturday, De La Salle University used a tight seven-man rotation to send this epic series to a deciding third game following a dominant 77-70 victory in Game 2 of the UAAP Season 76 men’s basketball title series.
Anchored by their dominance in rebounding against the relatively shorter UST five, 57-39, the Green Archers send the series to a winner-take-all showdown on Saturday.
Despite Jeron Teng tallying 19 points and nine rebounds, it was the inside presence of big men Norbert Torres and Arnold Van Opstal that buried the UST five.
Norbert Torres finished with 16 points, 10 rebounds, and three blocks, while Van Opstal added 13 points and 14 rebounds.
With a strong start in tow, the Green and White five erected a 17 point lead late in the second quarter. But their España counterparts pulled in within eight at the break, then made a 10-3 run to start the second half to trail by a single point, 43-44.
But La Salle pulled away again, bringing their lead up to double-digits to silence the Tigers’ growl for good.
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A reserved man of few words, DLSU head coach Juno Sauler simply quipped “My choice” to the media during the post-game press conference as to the reason why he limited his rotation to just seven men, leaving out active bench players Kib Montalbo, Robert Bolick, Oda Tampus, Gabby Reyes, and Luigi De La Paz from the lineup.
But Sauler praised his boys for their effort on the boards, especially with a whopping 27 on the offensive end that turned into 18 second-chance points. However, he still sees a lot of room for improvement for their side.
“We did better in terms of assist-to-turnover ratio, 16 to 8. We just have to work on the mindset (on) how to play the fourth quarter, and how to close out games,” said the former Green Archers forward.
On the other hand, UST head coach Pido Jarencio admitted that they had their shortcomings that doomed their Game 2 performance.
“Sama ng start namin. Maganda yung nilaro nila. We’ll have to step up in Saturday’s game. Yun lang. At least hindi pa ito do-or-die, may isa pang game,” said Jarencio.
Jeric Teng finished with 28 to lead all scorers, while Karim Abdul played through foul trouble to post 13 points and nine rebounds.
Game 3 is set on October 12, 3:30pm at the Mall of Asia Arena.
RELATED: Full Frame: Archers force decider vs UST
