By Jonas Terrado - Manila Bulletin - July 18, 2008
De La Salle and Far Eastern University scored contrasting victories at the PhilSports Arena yesterday to claim a share of second spot in the UAAP basketball tournament.
The Green Archers banked on a big windup to nip University of Santo Tomas, 85-84, while the Tamaraws led from the start to wallop University of the Philippines, 88-66.
The wins were the second for both teams in three games and they joined idle University of the East in second. The Tigers and the Fighting Maroons slid to similar 1-2 cards.
Bader Malabes and James Mangahas provided the heroics for the Green Archers who engaged the Tigers in a roller-coaster game that saw 13 lead changes and six ties, the last at 77-77.
Malabes broke that deadlock with a three-pointer from the left-corner at the 1:42 mark for an 80-77 lead only to see the Tigers regain the upperhand on two charities by Jeric Fortuna and a putback by Dylan Ababou, 81-80, with only 56 ticks to go.
After Ababou missed a bonus free throw from that last play, Mangahas fiercely drove Jervy Cruz to give the Archers the lead for good, 82-81, and ignite a 5-3 La Salle windup in the last 47 seconds.
"Big test on our part but at least we passed this particular test," said DLSU head coach Franz Pumaren. "I think it will help us down the stretch, give credit to my boys, they didn’t succumb to the pressure."
JV Casio led La Salle with 19 points but it was the duo of Mangahas and Malabes that made the difference for the Green Archers.
Malabes, a third-year Fil-Bahraini, shot 5-for-9 from the field, including four treys, en route to an 18-point production while Mangahas drilled in 16 .
"I’ve been waiting for him to have a big game, we know it’s a fact that he can shoot but he was still finding his groove after being hospitalized," Pumaren said of Malabes, who suffered tonsillitis with high fever prior to the start of the season. "He lost about 15 pounds and didn’t practice for about a week, at least now he’s not gaunt looking like Manny Pacquiao during a fight."
Ababou led UST with 23 points, seven rebounds, and three assists while Cruz added 20 points and 11 rebounds with Mark Canlas scoring 18 points, five rebounds, and three assists.
In the first game, the Tamaraws led from start and took their biggest lead of 22 points at 43-21 in the second quarter before settling for a 52-31 lead at the turn.
The best the Fighting Maroons could do from there was to narrow the gap to nine points, 55-46, with 4:47 left in the third quarter.
A 12-4 blast, however, finally broke the Fighting Maroons’ backs as the Tamaraws stampeded to a 67-50 lead going into the final 10 minutes.
"Siguro nakita ko sa kanila yung ball movement at defense," said winning head coach Glen Capacio. "Kaya siguro hindi kami nanalo last game, sa team na ito kailangan umikot ang bola."
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