Justine Baltazar and Kurt Lojera joined hands to spark a late run as De La Salle eked out a 75-65 win against Far Eastern University in the UAAP Season 84 men's basketball tournament at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City Thursday, March 31.
The Gilas Pilipinas stalwart had his best performance so far with 20 points on 7-of-13 shooting to go with 11 rebounds.
De La Salle unloaded a 9-0 run with huge plays coming from both Baltazar and Lojera capped by the latter's jumper en route to a 10-point lead, 71-61, with less than three minutes to play.
The 6-foot-9 Baltazar iced the game as early as the 1:57 mark with another jumper as the Archers rolled to their third straight win of the season, tying defending champions Ateneo Blue Eagles for a share in the lead.
"Hopefully we can use this as a springboard when we face Ateneo," said De La Salle coach Derrick Pumaren. "We just have to get back to the drawing board to know what to do against Ateneo."
Mark Nonoy, Season 82 Rookie of the Year winner, and Lojera finished strong off the bench with 17 and 10 points, respectively, while Deschon Winston and Cyrus Austria added nine points apiece.
Michael Phillips made the difference on the defensive end for the Archers after grabbing 16 rebounds on top of six points.
FEU cut its third quarter eight-point deficit down to one, 62-61, after a Ximone Sandagon slam midway through the payoff period but Baltazar and Lojera made their presence felt and spoiled the Tamaraws' party.
Ljay Gonzales had a breakout game on a losing effort with 17 points and four rebounds while Emmanuel Ojuola posted a double-double outing with 13 points and 12 rebounds.
RJ Abarrientos and Brandrey Bienes added nine points each for the Tamaraws.
The De La Salle-Ateneo showdown will cap off the quadruple-header on Saturday, April 2 while FEU will clash with National University at the 10 a.m. curtain-raiser.