DLSU STAYS UNBEATEN AFTER A CLOSE MATCHUP AGAINST ADAMSON
By Maxine Louise Lagman
9 October 2016
THE GREEN Archers survived the Adamson Soaring Falcons, perhaps the toughest game they had yet in the second round of the UAAP basketball season, 86-79 on Sunday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Adamson University was up by 17 points in the third, and made it hard for La Salle to prove their toughness inside the court. DLSU had the chance to close in the scores, and battled hard to earn another victory in the final minutes of the game as Jerrick Ahanmisi exploded for the Falcons.
However, Kib Montalbo was able to see an open and shot a triple for DLSU with 1:26 minutes left on the clock, and led away from Adamson for good.
It was a hard-earned win for DLSU, who are still atop the UAAP standings after sweeping eight matches in the season.
“Even ganun yung naging sitwasyon, hindi kami aalis sa sistema naming. Yung mga ganung klaseng laro, gusto namin ipasok yung pagiging spontaneous ng mga bata na as much as possible, we allow them to play basketball, make decisions and go with the flow,” said Coach Aldin Ayo, who was back after a one-game suspension.
Even without standout player Jeron Teng for the second time due to ankle injury, the Archers’ collective effort brought about another win for the team.
Ben Mbala still led DLSU with his outstanding performance yet again, 18 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks.
While rookie Ricci Rivero, who was suffering from pain by an impacted wisdom tooth, finished with 14 points, five rebounds, five assists and two steals. Another DLSU rookie, Aljun Melecio, displayed great offense, after three triples out of his nine, and had a total of 11 points.
Despite Adamson rookie Ahanmisi’s triples in the game and had career-game 27 points, the Falcons still fell to 4-4 in the league standings.
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