Deschon Winston caught fire and dropped 33 points in De La Salle's 112-83 routing of University of Santo Tomas in the UAAP Season 84 men's basketball tournament at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City Tuesday, April 19.
Powered by Winston’s hot-shooting from mid-range, the Green Archers pulled away in the third quarter and never looked back from that point.
He finished with 33 points, 19 of those coming from that sizzling run after the halftime break, to match RJ Abarrientos' scoring output in Far Eastern University's 73-68 loss to National University last April 2.
Evan Nelle put the nail in the coffin after nailing a buzzer-beating three, his first basket of the game, heading into the payoff period en route to a commanding 86-61 lead.
"It was a total team effort for us today (Tuesday)," said De La Salle head coach Derrick Pumaren. "We were able to execute. Deschon really shot well today (Tuesday). The only guy who was able to stop him was me because I took him out."
The 6-foot-4 Winston had an efficient 14-of-19 shooting from the field including three triples and four rebounds, Justine Baltazar posted 17 points to go with seven rebounds and seven assists, and Nelle shot a perfect 5-of-5 from the field built on four three-points for a total of 16 points along with six assists.
Michael Phillips added 15 points and nine rebounds while Kurt Lojera chipped in 10 points and six rebounds for the Green Archers, who improved to a 6-3 record.
De La Salle began with a dominant 16-3 run at the start of the third quarter capped by back-to-back jump shots from Winston to create a distance despite UST's attempts to pump life in the payoff period.
Tension rose, however, when Joshua Fontanilla of UST and Deo Cuajao of De La Salle got entangled inside the paint at the start of the fourth quarter.
Cuajao sustained a personal foul while Fontanilla was called for an unsportsmanlike for the elbow hit on the former in midair.
After receiving a warning for improper bench decorum earlier, the Growling Tigers’ bench was slapped with a technical foul which enabled Nelle to sink a pair of free throws and take the lead to a high of 92-63.
The Archers eventually reached the 100-point mark with five minutes left as the Tigers, who slipped to a 3-6 record, just couldn't stop their offensive run.
Paul Manalang paced the Tigers with 14 points, three rebounds, and three assists, Bryan Santos chalked up 13 points and seven rebounds, Sherwin Concepcion contributed 12 points and four rebounds, Nic Cabanero added 11 points and seven rebounds, while Dave Ando had 10 points and three rebounds.
UST will next face the undefeated reigning champion Ateneo on Thursday, April 12 at 10 a.m. while De La Salle will cap the quadruple-header against the winless University of the East at 7 p.m.
The Scores:
DLSU 112 - Winston 33, Baltazar 17, Nelle 16, M. Phillips 15, Lojera 10, Nonoy 5, Cuajao 5, Galman 5, Escandor 2, B. Phillips 2, Cu 2, Lim 0, Nwankwo 0, Turco 0.
UST 83 -- Manalang 14, Santos 13, Concepcion 12, Cabanero 11, Ando 10, Fontanilla 8, Garing 6, Gomez de Liano 4, Samudio 3, Manaytay 2, Gesalem 0, Mantua 0, Yongco 0, Pangilinan 0, Herrera 0.
Quarterscores: 36-21, 58-46, 86-61, 112-83.