La Salle swept its assignments in the UAAP Group of the Playtime Cares Filoil EcoOil 18th Preseason Cup presented by ABC Tile Adhesive and now heads into the quarterfinals as unbeaten top seed.
The Green Archers passed their final exam in the eliminations with flying colors, getting the better of University of Santo Tomas, 94-86, Thursday at the Playtime Cares Filoil Centre in San Juan.
Mason Amos delivered the goods for the green-and-white with 18 points and five rebounds, as Kean Baclaan collected 18 markers, seven assists, and five boards. Mike Phillips then posted a 14-point, 10-rebound double-double, with Jacob Cortez also providing 11 markers, eight dimes, and eight boards.
“Actually, with us, anybody can get hot at any time. For me, I just keep working,” said Amos following their rise to 6-0 in the tourney which has PlayTime Cares, Filoil, EcoOil, Hanes, Bostik El Heneral, Jiang Nan Hotpot, Lamtex Pipes, Smart, and Puso Pilipinas as major sponsors, and Harbor Star, Wallem, Akari, BDO, Tela.com Athletics, Nature’s Spring, Reyes Barbecue, and Brothers Burger as minor sponsors.
From a 79-73 lead early in the final frame, La Salle went on a 12-5 tear punctuated by a Phillips dunk to mount a 90-78 advantage with 4:31 remaining. That margin proved to be more than enough, as the Growling Tigers missed four triple tries the rest of the way.
“This is the first time we played them this preseason, and we can really see that UST is a different team. We were really excited to play them,” said Robinson.
Up next for the top-seeded Green Archers is the NCAA No. 4 in upstart Arellano.
The Growling Tigers, for their part, fell to 4-2 in the standings, but still secured the second spot by virtue of their triumph over the University of the Philippines.
Ice Danting had 19 points built on six treys to pace them, as Nic Cabanero also had 18 markers under his belt. They will face NCAA No. 3 Emilio Aguinaldo College in the next round.
Meanwhile, UP scored a second straight win to end the elims at the expense of Adamson, 63-54.
Gani Stevens was the lone Fighting Maroon in double-digits with 14 points on top of eight rebounds and two assists, as Harold Alarcon and Jacob Bayla scored eight apiece and Francis Nnoruka had seven markers and nine boards.
“He’s been doing good filling in yung mga nawala sa’min. Ang lagi lang naman naming sinasabi sa kanilang lahat, just keep working,” said head coach Goldwin Monteverde of Stevens, who has been given greater responsibilities upon the departures of Quentin Millora-Brown, Aldous Torculas, and Francis Lopez.
State U was locked into the third-seed no matter the result of the match, and is now bound for a quarterfinal showdown with NCAA No. 2 Benilde on Friday.
The Soaring Falcons, on the other hand, exit the preseason tourney at 1-5. Rookie Earl Medina topped the scoring column for them with 15 points.
