UNIVERSITY of the Philippines escaped with a nail-biting 61-59 escape from La Salle for its fifth straight win in the UAAP Season 84 men's basketball tournament Thursday at Mall of Asia Arena.
Michael Phillips could not force overtime with his shot in the last 3.8 seconds as the Fighting Maroons' defense held it together to keep the Green Archers scoreless in the last 2:45.
Zavier Lucero led that comeback for UP as he poured 21 points, 13 rebounds, and two steals. The Maroons rallied from a 52-45 deficit with less than eight minutes remaining in the game.
The Maroons make it five straight wins after an opening-day loss.
Carl Tamayo contributed nine points and 11 boards, as CJ Cansino had nine points on 2-of-5 shooting from deep, to go with his eight rebounds and one steal for the Fighting Maroons.
"I felt halos buong game, we struggled offensively. But good thing especially in the fourth quarter is nag-pick up yung defense namin," said coach Goldwin Monteverde as his side hacked out the win despite just shooting 29.5 percent from the field.
UP got a huge win despite leading scorer Ricci Rivero missing all of his six shots and going scoreless for the first time this season.
With this win, the Fighting Maroons moved up to solo second place at 5-1 and continued their mastery of the Green Archers as they won their last five meetings.
Justine Baltazar topped La Salle with 13 points, 10 rebounds, and four assists, while Evan Nelle also got 13 points, three steals, two boards, and two dimes before being silenced in the fourth quarter.
The Green Archers dropped to 4-2.
The scores:
UP 61 - Lucero 21, Tamayo 9, Cansino 9, Spencer 7, Diouf 7, Cagulangan 5, Fortea 3, Rivero 0, Alarcon 0, Abadiano 0.
La Salle 59 - Baltazar 13, Nelle 13, M. Phillips 9, Nonoy 9, Winston 7, Lojera 3, Galman 3, Nwankwo 2, Austria 0, B. Phillips 0, Cuajao 0.
Quarterscores: 17-17; 32-35; 43-48; 61-59.
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