With 3:55 remaining in the contest, the Green Archers took the game’s first double-digit lead, 63-53, on a basket by Jeron Teng off a broken play.
It was then that the La Salle offense, which had been on a frenetic pace for most of the second half, was put to a screeching halt, as they failed to score the rest of the way. The San Beda Red Lions, meanwhile, slowly chipped away at the Archers’ slowly dissipating advantage.
And when the smoke of the battle finally cleared, it was the Red Lions who had their hands raised in victory.
Despite leading for most of the half, the Green Archers were outscored 13-nil during the game’s last three minutes, ultimately succumbing to the San Beda Red Lions, 66-63, in the quarterfinals of the Fil-Oil Flying V Preseason Cup earlier today at the Fil-Oil Arena.
Red Lion Baser Amer dropped all eight of his points during the telling run, while teammates Art Dela Cruz (who paced San Beda in scoring with 14 markers) and Francis Abracar also scored on crucial baskets to overhaul the La Salle advantage.
For La Salle, it was Almond Vosotros who led the team in scoring with 16 points, while Teng added 15 points. Big men Arnold Van Opstal and Norbert Torres mirrored each other’s performance on the statsheet, with both finishing with 10 points and five caroms.
After being limited to 26 points on a measly 37 percent shooting clip during the first half, the Green Archers turned on the jets during the third canto, outscoring the Red Lions 27-13, which was capped off by a buzzer-beating three pointer from the comebacking LA Revilla, to turn a seven point halftime deficit into a seven-point advantage heading into the payoff period.
San Beda, however, began the fourth with a 6-2 run to pull within three, 55-52, with time down to five minutes and a half in the contest. La Salle, however, responded with an 8-1 blitz of their own, anchored by two baskets by Van Opstal and Teng’s floater that handed them the game’s largest lead.
The Archers, however, would not score again, as Dela Cruz and Amer scored quick buckets for the Lions, followed by a split at the charity stripe by Ola Adeogun. This was followed by another basket from Ryusei Koga and another by Amer off a La Salle time-out that trimmed the lead to a solitary point with a minute and a half left.
La Salle had several good looks at the basket and even managed to corral an offensive board, but the Red Lion defense held on, and Amer nailed four pressure-packed charities during the last minute to hand San Beda a three-point lead, with six ticks left on the game clock.
Coach Gee Abanilla then inserted Luigi Dela Paz and Gabby Reyes, both capable of knocking down a three, for La Salle’s final possession, but Reyes’ triple bounced off the right side of the rim and into the hands of a San Beda player as the final horn pierced the air.
The loss wraps up La Salle’s campaign in the tournament, which saw them get off to a blistering 5-0 start before losing three of their final four assignments against the top teams in the tournament, including this game.
The Scores:
SBC-66– Dela Cruz-14, Dela Rosa-12, Koga-11, Amer-8, Adeogun-7, Pascual-4, D. Semerad- 4, Abarcar-2, A. Semerad- 2, Sara- 2, Villaruz- 0
DLSU- 63– Vosotros- 16, Teng- 15, N. Torres- 10, Van Opstal- 10, Perkins- 6, Revilla-3, T. Torres-2, G. Reyes- 1, Bolick- 0, Montalbo- 0, M. Reyes- 0, Dela Paz- 0
Quarterscores: 17-14, 33-26, 46-53, 66-63
