LA Salle walked the tightrope anew yesterday. This time, it had the last laugh against Far Eastern University.
The Green Archers nipped the Tamaraws 74-72 to get back on track in the 88th UAAP basketball tournament at the University of Santo Tomas Quadricentennial Pavilion.
Former UST Tiger Cub Doy Dungo returned to his old home and showed the way for La Salle with 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting while Mason Amos chipped in 14 markers, three rebounds, and four assists.
Jacob Cortez also had 14 points, three boards, and four dimes, with EJ Gollena adding 13 and eight.
Mike Phillips, despite being held to just six points on 1-of-7 shooting, took care of the glass for the Archers with 13 rebounds, on top of nine feeds.
Assistant coach Caloy Garcia said La Salle leaned on its grit when the Tamaraws charged back in the fourth quarter.
“Of course, coming off a loss, you really want to win. We played a part in the game where we’re playing really, really well but in the UAAP, you cannot say that you’re gonna have an easy win,” Garcia said.
“FEU came back in the fourth and we just have to figure out our struggles in the fourth quarter,” he added.
FEU had a golden opportunity to force an extension when Jorick Bautista found himself wide open for a baseline layup. But the shooting guard muffed his shot with 7.0 seconds left.
The Archers then milked the clock en route to the bounce-back win after an 84-93 loss to the Growling Tigers last Saturday and rose to 2-1.
The Tams trailed 51-64 entering the fourth but pulled to within 69-70 with 2:25 left behind Mo Konateh, Janrey Pasaol, Bautista, and Jedric Daa.
But Amos and Dungo delivered back-to-back baskets for La Salle to stretch the lead to 74-69 with 1:32 remaining.
Bautista answered with a clutch triple at the 54.4-second mark to make it to 72-74, only to miss what would have been the game-tying layup in the waning seconds—the biggest what-if of the duel.
