The undefeated DLSU Green Archers will battle the UST Growling Tigers to determine the no. 1 seed in the UAAP group of the Filoil EcoOil 18th Preseason Cup.
La Salle came out of halftime guns blazing, burying University of the East in a barrage of threes for a 100-91 decision, Sunday at the Playtime Cares Filoil Centre in San Juan.
Riding their 43-point third quarter, the Green Archers stayed spotless through five games in the Playtime Cares Filoil EcoOil 18th Preseason Cup presented by ABC Tile Adhesive and are now one win away from the top seed out of the UAAP Group.
Down four, 39-43, at halftime, La Salle came alive from beyond the arc with a total of 11 treys in the third. Mason Amos hit two during their massive 35-7 surge that, all of a sudden, sent them in front, 74-50, late in the period.
"We just went back to how we play. The team that I saw in the first half, that wasn't us, so we just went back to us," said head coach Topex Robinson.
The Red Warriors couldn't recover from there and only got to trim their deficit to single-digits in the dying seconds.
Amos wound up with 13 points, five assists, and three rebounds, as four other Green Archers also ended in double-digits in Luis Pablo (14), Jacob Cortez (11), Mikey Cortez (11), and Andrei Dungo (10).
In all, La Salle converted 18 of its 39 attempts from deep and counted a total 11 players who had at least one make.
The Green Archers have one last assignment in the elimination round, a face-off with 4-1 University of Santo Tomas that will determine the top spot in the UAAP Group of the tourney which has PlayTime Cares, Filoil, EcoOil, Hanes, Bostik El Heneral, Jiang Nan Hotpot, Lamtex Pipes, Smart, and Puso Pilipinas as major sponsors.
Harbor Star, Wallem, Akari, BDO, Tela.com Athletics, Nature’s Spring, Reyes Barbecue, and Brothers Burger serve as minor sponsors.
On the other hand, UE went out winless in its first campaign under new shot-caller Chris Gavina. Precious Momowei paced their latest loss with a 23-point, 13-rebound double-double.
Meanwhile, in a battle between already-eliminated teams, San Beda sank Lyceum, 76-70.
Yukien Andrada waxed hot with 21 points, including four triples, to go with nine rebounds, while Janti Miller posted 14 markers and 12 boards in the Red Lions' third win in the last four games, and fourth overall out of eight.
San Beda was made to work for it, however, as it saw its once-11-point lead at the 4:18 mark of the final frame cut to just five, 75-70, with 12 seconds left. Sent to the line, Miller split his free throws before he and his teammates denied the Pirates any good looks as time expired.
The Red Lions now turn their attention to a rivalry game with Letran on Wednesday. While that will be a no-bearing game for the former, the latter still needs a win to wrap up the no. 1 spot coming out of the NCAA bracket.
Lyceum, meantime, dropped to 1-7 despite the best efforts of Renz Villegas, John Barba, and JM Bravo who each scored 10.