LA SALLE stayed within reach of a Top Two finish with an 80-70 win over Far Eastern University in UAAP Season 86 men's basketball tournament on Wednesday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Mark Nonoy had another breakthrough outing with 15 points as the Archers improved to 10-3 (win-loss).
Raven Cortez' team-high 16 points and a Kevin Quiambao double-double of 10 points and 10 boards steered La Salle to win No. 10 with a game left to play in the prelims.
READ: UP Maroons swamp UST Tigers, zero in on twice-to-beat spot
"We have to really acknowledge the effort that FEU put in this afternoon. We reminded everybody that they might have zero chance of making it to the next round, but we expect that they’re gonna come out with 100% effort which they showed," said La Salle head coach Topex Robinson.
"They really battled it out with us, kept us on our toes, and kept us grounded. Again, I’m just happy that our players really responded to the challenge of really competing against FEU especially in the second half, especially in the fourth quarter. I appreciate the effort they put in defensively," he added.
FEU went on a tug-of-war with Final Four-bound La Salle in the first three quarters — only to stumble and fall in the face of an 11-0 Archers run from a 64-all tie early in the final frame.
Even in an off-night scoring-wise for MVP frontrunner Quiambao, Cortez stepped up bigtime off the bench with a team-high 16 points in just 17 minutes of action.
As its three-way race with UP and La Salle heats up, NU's match versus Adamson later in the day will dictate what's at stake for the top four teams come the final weekend of prelims play.
The scores:
DLSU (80) – Cortez 16, Nonoy 15, Quiambao 13, Nelle 7, Escandor 7, Austria 5, Abadam 4, Nwankwo 4, Policarpio 3, Gollena 3, Manuel 3, B. Phillips 0, Macalalag 0.
FEU (70) – Bautista 17, Sleat 11, Gonzales 10, Ona 10, Competente 7, Bagunu 6, Tempra 4, Torres 2, Montemayor 2, Buenaventura 1, Faty 0.
Quarterscores: 21-18, 41-40, 62-61, 80-70.
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