Mike Phillips – the heart and soul of defending UAAP men’s basketball champion La Salle – again gives all-out effort for the Archers in essentially a no-bearing’ game against Final Four-seeking FEU
MANILA, Philippines – Even with hardly any stakes on the line, Mike Phillips is guaranteed to play every game like a do-or-die affair.
That is, without hyperbole, exactly what the La Salle community witnessed on Wednesday, November 6, as the former UAAP Mythical Five member and reigning champion bullied the gutsy, Final Four-seeking FEU Tamaraws and helped the Green Archers enact a 58-53 escape at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Phillips stuffed the stat sheet to the brim with a huge line of 17 points, 15 rebounds, 5 steals, 2 blocks, and 2 assists in less than 23 minutes of action, successfully offsetting MVP Kevin Quiambao’s horrid shooting day of 8 points on a 2-of-17 clip with 13 boards as consolation.
Amid a wild, back-and-forth contest that featured a 21-2 second-quarter La Salle run and a 21-6 third-period response from FEU, Phillips was again the constant, unshakeable pest hounding the Tamaraws on both ends of the floor, skying or diving for the ball as he saw fit for the situation.
Following a go-ahead Raven Gonzales floater with 1:16 to play, 52-51, Phillips pushed La Salle further up with a buzzer-beating hook at the 52-second mark, 54-51, before sinking a stunning Hail Mary fling over the outstretched arms of lanky beast Mo Konateh plus the foul with just 24.1 seconds to go, 56-51.
Although Phillips missed the bonus free throw while Konateh sank his charities on the other end with 22.6 ticks left, 53-56, floor general Joshua David caught FEU sleeping in the clutch as he fired an inbound bullet dime to a streaking Doi Dungo for the game-sealing layup at the 20.6-second mark, 58-53.
A Janrey Pasaol three with 8.3 ticks to play then only drew air on the other end, perfectly encapsulating the Tamaraws’ upset effort for the day: close, but just a tad short.
“Well, we just have to give it to FEU. Sean [Chambers] is really doing a great job there, doing what he has with a young team. We just try to grind it out with them. We know it’s going to be a fast-paced game so we just try to keep it simple in our end,” said La Salle head coach Topex Robinson.
“We try to make it a boring game by not outrunning them because it’s going to be a disaster for us if we did. We just stepped up in those last few minutes of the fourth quarter. We did what we’re supposed to do and that’s to limit their scorers.”
Dungo tied Quiambao with 8 points on a 4-of-8 clip, while David made up for a 3-point, 1-of-10 shooting afternoon with 5 crucial assists and 5 rebounds.
Konateh, already owning explosive rebounding records of 25 and 26 boards, again reset his personal-best with 27 big caroms to go with 14 points in nearly a full 40-minute run.
Super rookie Veejay Pre, meanwhile, was clamped to just 12 points on a 5-of-15 clip after averaging 26.5 points in his last two.
Nothing more than a catalyst for a top-seed finish, the win pushed La Salle to an 11-1 record, further away from No. 2 UP (9-2), while FEU slid to 4-8 in sixth place behind Adamson (4-7) in heartbreaking fashion.
FEU, Ateneo (3-8), and NU (3-8) now bank on UE (6-5) and UST (5-6) failing to earn their respective seventh wins to keep their slim Final Four hopes alive.
The Scores
La Salle 58 – Phillips 17, Macalalag 9, Dungo 8, Quiambao 8, Marasigan 4, David 3, Gonzales 3, Austria 2, Ramiro 2, Agunanne 2, Gollena 0, Konov 0.
FEU 53 – Konateh 14, Pre 12, Alforque 11, Pasaol 11, Anonuevo 3, Daa 2, Montemayor 0, Bagunu 0, Ona 0, Nakai 0, Bautista 0.
Quarters: 10-19, 28-26, 40-41, 58-53.
– Rappler.com
