BIG man Mike Phillips of defending champion La Salle seemed to be in trouble and found himself with nowhere to go at the height of Far Eastern University’s gritty comeback bid last night.

Phillips eventually found just enough crack on their foes’ defense, attacked the middle, and threw an awkward-looking floater—a Hail Mary shot that was answered.

Showing better poise this time around, Phillips and the Green Archers held off the Tamaraws 68-62 to rediscover their winning ways in the 87th UAAP basketball tournament at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The 6-foot-8 Fil-Am’s shot kissed the glass and went in, giving La Salle a 65-60 cushion with 2:21 left before following it up with two free throws that virtually sealed the deal.

Pushed against the ropes anew after dropping a 71-75 loss to University of the East last Sunday, La Salle coach Topex Robinson was pleased his wards did not falter this time.

“It’s just another challenging opportunity for us. I told them can I go back to our UE game? UE didn’t upset us. They really deserved the win. Sometimes, we take away the credit from coach Jack (Santiago) and the rest of the team,” Robinson said. “They really did their job. We don’t really consider it as an upset and UE just gave us something that really helped us. I guess, it kinda cleaned up the pressure of not losing.

“You know, when you get so used to winning parang kasalanan na matalo ka. But I guess what it did to us as a team was it grounded us. It just reminded us that this season for us is gonna be hard and even harder, just like what happened today with FEU. I guess, that’s just the story of our season right now,” he added.

Phillips showed the way for the Taft-based squad with 13 points, 14 rebounds and two blocks while reigning MVP Kevin Quiambao barely missed a triple-double with 12 markers, 11 boards and eight assists as the Archers moved to 4-1.

The Tams fell to 0-5 counting a 58-69 defeat to the University of the Philippines four days ago.

After taking a 38-28 lead at the break, La Salle padded its edge to 45-32 but FEU charged back and grabbed a 51-50 edge entering the final 10 minutes.

Rookie guard Janrey Pasaol paced the Tams with 13 points but committed eight turnovers.

Gambian center Mo Konateh also contributed 12 markers, 25 caroms, and four blocks while Veejay Pre and Jorick Bautista struggled with 11 and nine points on 4-of-16 and 3-of-21 shooting from the field, respectively, for FEU.

Robinson said it best: “So, if it doesn’t kill us, it’s just gonna make us stronger.”