La Salle wakes up in time to whip UP

By Anthony Divinagracia Posted Aug 24th 2013

For a while, De La Salle University looked dreaming and dead to give University of the Philippines (UP) what it synonymously needed: an upset and a win.

Good thing the Archers woke up just in time to prevent a monumental let-down on Saturday, unleashing a crippling fourth-quarter run as La Salle kept the Maroons winless, 85-63, in the 76^th UAAP men’s basketball tournament at the Araneta Coliseum.

La Salle limited UP to just seven points in the final canto and revved up its offensive engine with an unnerving 17-4 attack behind Jason Perkins, Almond Vosotros, and Oda Tampus as the Archers took a 77-60 lead for good.

“We shot better in the first half. There’s no real adjustment actually. I just told them to play harder and challenge the shots of UP,” La Salle coach Juno Sauler said after teh Archers chalked up their third straigh win.

“We just focused on our defense. That’s our mind set in the second half. We just try to improve on what we’re doing like increasing our assists and decreasing our turnovers.”

Perkins led La Salle with a monstrous effort of 19 points and 16 rebounds, 10 of which coming from the offense glass. Vosotros and Norbert Torres had 16 markers each while Jeron Teng finished with 12. Torres backstopped Perkins off the boards with 14 caroms.

Overall, the Archers out-rebounded the smaller UP frontline, 55-42, with the Maroons missing the services of injured forward Chris Ball. La Salle also registered a 12-0 edge on fastbreak points.

The Archers actually controlled the opening quarter but relaxed on the defensive end, allowing the Maroons to get back in the second canto.

Down 22-27, the Maroons uncorked a 10-0 onslaught anchored on back-to-back triples from Henry Asilum to turn the game around, 36-27, with 4:59 in the second frame. La Salle answered with a few buckets but UP nursed their advantage going into the break.

Yet La Salle was just starting.

With Vosotros catching fire from afar and Perkins asserting himself inside, the Archers unloaded a 12-5 counter-attack to tie the story at 46-all. UP fought back with shots from Raul Soyud and Sam Marata but Arnold Van Opstal completed a three-point play to fuel a 7-0 La Salle blitz and grab a 61-56 edge for La Salle heading into the payoff period.

Asilum top-scored for UP with 18 points while Soyud and Marata added 16 each. Soyud issued a double-double by hauling down 16 rebounds.

The scores:

DLSU 85 – Perkins 19, Vosotros 16, N.Torres 16, Teng 12, Van Opstal 7, Revilla 6, Montalbo 5, Tampus 4, T.Torres 0, Salem 0.

UP 63 – Asilum 18, Soyud 11, Marata 11, Wong 6, Lao 6, Harris 4, Desiderio 4, Pascual 3, Suarez 0, Paras 0, Gingerich 0, Gallarza 0, Amar 0.

Quarter scores: 23-20, 35-42, 61-56, 85-63.