By NIKOLE JAVIER
De La Salle cruised past University of Santo Tomas, 83-63, for its first win in the UAAP Season 85 men’s basketball tournament on Wednesday, Oct. 5, at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City.
The Green Archers posted their biggest lead of the match courtesy of Cyrus Austria’s basket which hiked the margin to 78-54 midway through the fourth period.
Deschon Winston had another impressive outing of 19 points including five rebounds while Michael Phillips added a double-double performance of 11 points and 12 rebounds.
“We were expecting that they were gonna do (what they did) against us dahil we scouted them against Adamson. And they run that defense the whole time. We came up (with a response) and we were able to execute the things that we were supposed to do out there,” said De La Salle head coach Derrick Pumaren.
Kevin Quiambao, who struggled in their opening defeat against the reigning champion University of the Philippines, 72-69, last Oct. 2, mustered 11 points this time around.
“After that loss last game against UP, I told the boys that the most important thing we gotta do is we gotta bounce back hard in this game today,” added Pumaren.
Miguel Pangilinan scored 11 points and grabbed nine rebounds in a losing effort for UST which split its first two assignments.
The Scores:
LA SALLE 83 -- Winston 19, Austria 13, M. Phillips 11, Quiambao 11, Estacio 6, Abadam 6, B. Phillips 5, Nonoy 3, Blanco 3, Manuel 2, Nwankwo 2, Cortez 2, Escandor 0, Macalalag 0, Buensalida 0.
UST 63 -- Pangilinan 11, Faye 10, Cabanero 10, Manalang 10, Garing 6, Lazarte 5, Escobido 4, Mantua 3, Calimag 3, Laure 1, Manaytay 0, Duremdes 0, Magdangal 0, Herrera 0, Gesalem 0.
Quarters: 30-21, 47-40, 65-46, 83-63.