DE LA SALLE became the first team to clinch a spot in the Filoil EcoOil Preseason Cup quarterfinals after defeating bitter rival Ateneo, 72-59, on Sunday in San Juan.
Veteran guard Evan Nelle orchestrated the offense for the Green Archers, scoring 12 points and dishing out seven assists. Joshua David, Mark Nonoy, and Kevin Quiambao backed him up by scoring 11 points points.
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The two teams shot a combined 6 of 31 from three-point distance. But it was a different story in the second half when La Salle outscored Ateneo, 37-28, with Nelle and Joshua David leading the re-energized Green Archers.
La Salle coach Topex Robinson lauded his boys for making the necessary adjustments in the second half.
“In the first half, we gave Ateneo a lot of opportunities to score easy baskets. However, the good thing about these guys is that they know how to respond. They take ownership of their mistakes and they try to get better.”
Nelle said: "After coach sat us down, we realized that we were against ourselves, and not really [against] anybody else.”
Forward Kai Ballungay scored 12 of his 18 points in the second half. Joseph Obasa added nine points and eight rebounds for the reigning UAAP champions, who are now 0-3 in the preseason tournament.
The scores:
La Salle 72 - Nelle 12, Nonoy 11, Quiambao 11, David 11, M. Phillips 10, Policarpio 5, Gollena 4, Escandor 3, Abadam 2, Manuel 2, B. Phillips 1, Nwankwo 0, Melencio 0.
Ateneo 59 - Ballungay 18, Espinosa 9, Credo 7, Brown 5, Obasa 5, Padrigao 4, Quitevis 3, Amos 3, Chiu 3, Nwabude 2, Bongo 0, Garcia 0, Nieto 0.
Quarterscores: 14-15, 32-28, 55-41, 72-59.
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