Kevin Quiambao eggs on the DLSU after draining the game winning triple with 9.8 seconds remaining. UAAP photo
Quiambao will be man to watch
REIGNING MVP Kevin Quiambao, when the chips are down, will be La Salle’s main man in the endgame.
“That’s the beauty of having him. The last possessions of the game wherein he’s gonna make the right decision. We always tell this in our team Kevin will win games for us and he will lose games for us, the fact that he had five turnovers was just evident of the freedom that he has,” said Green Archers coach Topex Robinson.
In the most exciting game of the UAAP men’s basketball opening weekend, Quiambao took matters into his own hands as La Salle began its back-to-back title bid with a narrow 78-75 win over National University Sunday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Quiambao drained the game’s biggest basket, a left-wing triple that gave the Green Archers a 78-75 lead with 9.8 seconds left to cap a stirring comeback from a 64-71 deficit midway in the fourth quarter.
The 6-foot-6 Quiambao scored nine points in the final 2:53 of the match to finish with 22 points to go with eight rebounds and seven assists for La Salle.
“Hindi nagclick yung kung anong gusto naming takbo buong game then pinoint out ko lang sa sarili ko na kailangan ko mag takeover mode, so ang ginawa ko lang ay naging glue guy lang ako ng team then good thing naman pumasok yung tira ko,” said Quiambao.
Mike Phillips, now on his fourth year, also chipped in 12 points and 11 rebounds off the bench while starting forward EJ Gollena impressed with 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting for the Green Archers.
La Salle, which will next face Adamson tomorrow at the Big Dome, hopes to produce better effort being now the target from the rest of the field.
The Green Archers will have a short turnaround against the Falcons, who remain a Final Four contender.
“We got a glimpse of Adamson’s game before ours today. It’s going to be another tough one on Wednesday,” Phillips said.
“They’ve got (Matt) Montebon, (Cedrick) Manzano – all those guys are really tough players. We’ll take the night to rest, but once midnight hits, we’re going to start preparing for Adamson and hopefully grind out another win,” he added.
