De La Salle showed endgame poise to shoot down University of Santo Tomas, 75-66, in the UAAP Season 84 men's basketball tournament Tuesday, April 5 at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City Tuesday, April 5.
The Green Archers rolled on from the get-go in the first half before the Tigers, behind the efforts of Joshua Fontanilla and Nic Cabanero, attempted for a comeback scare in the payoff period.
UST saw its early 19-point deficit trim down to nine, 71-62, after a Christian Manaytay reverse layup with less than three minutes to go in the fourth.
But it was too late for the Espana-based squad after Justine Baltazar and Kurt Lojera joined forces to put the finishing touches as De La Salle improved to a 4-1 record.
"I think it’s very important for us, this win," said De La Salle coach Derrick Pumaren. "It’s because after coming up with a loss against Ateneo, the thing that I told the boys the important thing is how we bounce back. We gotta bounce back hard. We gotta take care of business today."
Baltazar posted 20 points on an efficient 8-of-12 shooting to go with seven rebounds, and five assists and Lojera scored 15 points to lead the Green Archers.
Rookie Emmanuel Galman showed off with 13 points built on three triples while Michael Phillips flirted with a double-double performance after chalking up eight points and 13 rebounds.
Fontanilla paced UST, which dropped to a 2-3 record, with 20 points but committed six turnovers while Cabanero had a double-double outing of 20 points and 10 rebounds.
The Scores:
DLSU 75 - Baltazar 20, Lojera 15, Galman 13, Phillips M. 8, Nelle 4, Austria 4, Phillips B. 4, Nonoy 3, Winston 2, Nwankwo 2.
UST 66 - Cabañero 20, Fontanilla 20, Santos 9, Manaytay 9, Concepcion 4, Ando 2, Pangilinan 2, Garing 0, Manalang 0, Mantua 0, Herrera 0, Yongco 0, Gomez de Liaño 0.
Quarterscores: 23-16, 42-27, 61-44, 75-66.