By MARK REY MONTEJO
National University continued its giant-slaying ways as it upset La Salle, 63-54, to wrap up its Season 87 campaign on a high note in the UAAP men’s basketball tournament at the UST Quadricentennial Pavilion in Manila Wednesday, Nov. 13.
The Bulldogs played solid in both ends and controlled the match most of them time before erecting a 49-39 lead, which was too much for the Green Archers to overcome.
With the win, the Bulldogs closed out their campaign with a 5-9 record.
But more importantly, the Bulldogs became the only squad this season to have beaten both La Salle and University of the Philippines.
The loss hardly mattered at all for the Archers who still finished at No. 1 with a 12-2 mark.
PJ Palacielo carried the scoring cudgels for NU with 16 points on top eight rebounds while Jake Figueroa backed him up with 14.
Mike Phillips was the only bright spot for La Salle as he tallied 18 points and 10 rebounds. Raven Gonzales and Henry Agunnane added nine and eight markers, respectively.
Reigning MVP Kevin Quiambao was a huge disappointing output, finishing only with 6 points on an awful 3-of-17 shooting from the field.
The scores:
NU (63) – Palacielo 16, Figueroa 14, Garcia 8, Manansala 6, Enriquez 5, Padrones 5, Jumamoy 3, Yu 3, Dela Cruz 2, Lim 1, Santiago 0, Tulabut 0, Parks 0, Francisco 0.
DLSU (54) – Phillips 18, Gonzales 9, Agunnane 8, Quiambao 6, Ramiro 4, David 3, Macalalag 2, Gollena 2, Dungo 1, Marasigan 1, Konov 0, Austria 0, Alian 0.
Quarterscores: 17-17, 38-32, 47-39, 63-54
