Catch up was the name of the game. For majority of the game, the De La Salle Green Archers played catch up to the undefeated San Sebastian College Stags. The Taft-based squad had a few tastes of the lead but they were unable to hold on to it as they finally bowed down to the SSC Stags, 66-71.
The first quarter ended with the Archers trailing 18-12 but the Stags didn’t content themselves with it as they made seven straight points, including a shot from rainbow territory, to open the 2nd quarter to give them their biggest lead of the ballgame, 25-12. With 6 minutes to go in the first half, Gab Banal finally broke DLSU’s scoreless stretch by scoring two points from the charity line. The score being 14-25 in favor of the Stags, San Sebastian continued their offensive attack for the remainder of the quarter, scoring 12 more points that included a couple more of threes. During this time, the Archers struggled to fight back, scoring 14 points to end the first half at 28 points, against Baste’s 37.
Going back into the court for the 2nd half of the game, the Archers tightened up their defense, limiting San Sebastian to just 4 points in a span of 4 minutes. During this time, all five Archers on the court got a touch of the ball and contributed to trimming their deficit down to a single point, 41-40. The 12-4 run started with Ferdinand’s layup at the beginning of the half and Bader Malabes capped it off with a shot from beyond the arc. At this point, the Stags picked up steam and started on their offensive attack, again distancing themselves from the Archers by as much as 7 points, 52-45. As the clock wound down, the Archers managed to score four more points, courtesy of a jumper from Manoj Chandumal and two shots from the stripe from Banal, to trail by only 3 points, 52-49, to end the third canto.
The final ten minutes of the game started off aggressively. LA Revilla made a three to tie the ballgame 52-52. Baste answered with one of their own but Revilla made yet another three to tie the game again at 55. The two teams made a bucket each, tying the ballgame for the third time in the quarter, at 57. Unfortunately, just as he was streaking hot, Revilla fouled out with 5:57 to go. SSC took advantage of this as they pulled ahead again in the next few possessions, 63-58. The Archers, though, didn’t give up. They rallied against San Sebastian and Maui Villanueva’s jumper with 2:45 to go tied the game at 63. This will be the last deadlock of the ballgame.
Things seemed to turn around as in the next possession, Banal calmly sank a three, putting the Archers up 66-63, with 2:22 left. Unfortunately, the boys in green were just given a taste of the lead. And it was the last bucket that they were going to make. Within the next minute, the Stags scored 4 straight points to erase the lead and to pull ahead by 1, 67-66. Time was running out and the Archers were forced to foul – Baste made the first but missed the second. DLSU was able to grab the rebound but the pesky defense of SSC forced a turnover again, forcing a foul. They split their charities but the Archers failed to grab the rebound. This time, with 3.3 seconds left, the Stags went to the free throw line and made both, putting them up 71-66. This would be the final score of the game.
Quarter Scores : 18-12, 37-28, 52-49, 71-66
Notes : Hyram Bagatsing, in street clothes, sat out in the sidelines again. Jovet Mendoza hit his back in the 3rd quarter and wasn’t able to finish the game.