MANILA -- Former San Sebastian Staglet Almond Vosotros perfected his charities in the last 7.3 ticks to lift La Salle against National University, 59-56, at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.
The 20-year-old discovery from the port city of Tabaco in Albay went mightier down the stretch by draining seven of game-high 16 points, five rebounds and two assists while King Archer Simon Atkins added 13 markers.
Melvin Baloran tried to force an overtime but it went out of the rim to the delight of La Salle fans, whose team improved to solo fourth in the league with a 5-3 (win-loss) card.
The Bulldogs trailed for most of the game but the team managed a 4-0 spurt in less than two minutes with Joseph Terso, last week’s end game master against University of the Philippines, pulling off a scare, 57-56, with 13.3 seconds remaining.
“At least we won. This is a good experience for us. We have been outrebounded by more than 10 and I’m glad that everybody contributed for this game,” said coach Dindo Pumaren.
Emmanuel Mbe registered 15 point, whopping 17 rebounds and three shot blocks to banner NU in a losing effort, which tied University of Santo Tomas at 3-4.
Basketball action resumes at the Philsports Arena with a double-header featuring a resurgent University of the East against top-ranked Far Eastern University at 2 p.m. while second-running Adamson University faces a wounded UST quintet at the 4 p.m. main event. (Virgil Lopez/Sunnex)