Quick Fire: Slams, Elbows and Banters as La Salle Green Archers Survives Physical Adamson Soaring Falcons

(Photo Credit: Rafael Zaballero, The LaSallian)

DLSU Green Archers def. Adamson Soaring Falcons 80-74

Notable Players

Ricci Rivero, La Salle (17 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist): The gunslinger from La Salle Greenhills has flipped the switch in the second round playing Mythical Team basketball.  When the play is broken, give the ball to Ricci.  Shot clock running down and the team needs a quick 2, give the ball to Ricci.  The steadiness Ricci Rivero has provided so far to a struggling La Salle offense by capitalizing on small defensive gaps and driving hard for two.  

To add to that phenomenal and entertaining brand of offense are the intangible contributions.  Rivero's ridiculous length on defense effectively shuts down opponents' outside snipers plus the agility to chase down dribble drive rim attacks has made Mayhem a tough defense to crack.    

Santi Santillan, La Salle (16 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists): The CESAFI sensation is fulfilling the potentials that brought his talents to Taft. Aside from the occasional draining of that long bomb, Santi Santillan has been a Robin to La Salle's Batman, Ben Mbala.  Capitalizing on quick low post double teams on Mbala, Santillan shuffles to open spaces for the quick kick out and the gimme scoops.  

Santillan has not been known to hide from big plays.  With time ticking and Adamson was poised to yank the rug under the Archers at 74-72 with 36 seconds remaining, Santillan drove against Tyrus Hill with veteran composure and scooped it home for two.

Ben Mbala, La Salle (17 points and 17 rebounds, 5 offensive rebounds and 5 sensational blocks): It is hard to be spoiled seeing Mbala's sensational play days.  Despite the not-that-dominant effort, Mbala still finished his usual double-double tied up with his intimidating inside the lane presence.  Different from round 1 when the Falcons turned away from their inside game, Adamson took turns attacking the paint only to see their shots fly back courtesy of an Mbala swat.  

"Relatively" quiet on the offensive end, roughing up on Mbala made the Cameroonian phenomenon earn his points from the line where he went 9 of 12.  

Papi Sarr, Adamson (17 points, 12 rebounds, 6 offensive rebounds): The Adamson star did not back down from the Mbala challenge.  Sarr suited up, banged bodies with Mbala all afternoon and came out of that tussle with a +10 on his time on the floor.  Despite being hobbled with foul trouble, Sarr placed his basketball IQ in front of his raw desire to use brute strength by methodically staying out of foul trouble and causing damage in the compromising interior defense of La Salle.  

Waiting for that perfect time to post up Mbala, Sarr scored repeatedly on smart second shot chances mostly off his own miss when Mbala was muscled out after the first attempt. 

Jerrick Ahanmisi (17 points, 2 rebounds) and Robbie Manalang (11 points, 3 rebounds), Adamson: Manalang and Ahanmisi collaborated with 14 points in the final 10 minutes in the triple barrage to dismantle a 7-point La Salle lead to a manageable 1, 69-68 with 3 minutes remaining in the game. 

Once Adamson bombers starts to zero in, La Salle defense stretched and enabled Sarr and the Falcons frontline to soar inside the paint.  

Quick Analysis

-  It was a dog day afternoon.  A grind out game.  A chess match with both teams taking turns on spurts with 3 deadlocks and 3 lead changes all in the second half.   La Salle emerged victorious with better shot selection shooting 46.55% from the field and higher accuracy from downtown at 33.33%.  

- La Salle's tendency to lean on Ben Mbala surfaced like an ugly scar and the offensive fluidity displayed in the previous games was non-existent. As the rest of the Archers watched, Mbala had to repeatedly pound on Sarr and outmuscling double teams to get that difficult two.  No baskets came easy for Mbala.    

- After La Salle used Mbala on UP's Paul Desiderio and lauded as a move of a defensive maestro, Adamson made the most of that scouting report and used that blank baseline with relative ease early in the game and pulled away steadily and assembled a 30-20 lead in the second canto.  

- The game showed what the league is in for when Bounce Brothers of Adamson grows beyond UAAP puberty.  Sharp corner 3s plus hard-to-guard lane incursions will be the new norm of Adamson when the trio takes over the league.  Two monster jams by Tyrus Hill and Ahanmisi and Manalang swishing beyond the arc has made the Falcons offense hard to stop.

-  La Salle has a had bad relationship with short rotations.   Coach Aldin Ayo once more used a nine-man rotation with four stars logging in more than 28 heavy minutes took its' toll on a team that relentlessly sprints up and down the court all game.