Rookie guard Deschon Winston made a lasting impression in his UAAP debut by dropping 22 points as De La Salle edged University of the East, 71-66, to cap off the University Athletics Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 84 men's basketball tournament quadruple-header opener at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City Saturday, March 26.
Winston, who was De La Salle's spark from the get-go, added six rebounds, three steals, and one assist while Justine Baltazar had a double-double performance of 12 points, 11 rebounds, four steals and two assists.
Former San Beda guard Evan Nelle came through with 11 points, four steals, and three assists and big man Bright Nwankwo chipped in 10 points, eight rebounds, two blocks, one assist, and one steal.
Leading only by four points, 65-61, Nelle put a stop at UE's mini 6-0 run before Winston fired an open three off the former's dish from transition to put back De La Salle up to nine, 70-61.
With both teams at early penalty, it all boiled down to a free-throw contest as Baltazar split his shot from the charity stripe to ice the game with 1:04 left to play.
After averting meltdown, De La Salle head coach Derrick Pumaren wasn't satisfied with how things turned out in the payoff period.
"It's still not a nice win but we just have to take it," said Pumaren. "We still made a lot of mistakes. There's still a lot of things to do for us right now and we just have to work a lot of things... we just have to work, work, work on our game."
The Archers saw their 18-point lead in the third quarter slowly collapse entering the final frame as Harvey Pagsanjan, Stephen Catacutan, and Clint Escamis showed the way for the Warriors midway.
Nico Paranada and Pagsanjan led the Red Warriors with 13 points apiece while Leon Lorenzana contributed 11.
De La Salle will face National University on Tuesday, March 29 at 4 p.m. while UE will battle Adamson in the first game at 10 a.m.
The scores:
LA SALLE 71 -- Winston 22, Baltazar 12, Nelle 11, Nwankwo 10, Lojera 6, B. Phillips 4, Austria 4, M. Phillips 2, Manuel 0, Lim 0.
UE 66 -- N. Paranada 13, Pagsanjan 13, Lorenzana 11, Antiporda 6, Sawat 5, Escamis 4, Villanueva 4, Tulabut 3, K. Paranada 2, Catacutan 2, Je. Cruz 2, Ja. Cruz 1, Abatayo 0, Beltran 0.
Quarters: 22-15, 47-31, 60-49, 71-66.