Archers win 7th straight, keep Tamaraws at bay

MANILA, Philippines – The La Salle Green Archers pulled away late and kept its hunt for a twice-to-beat semis edge alive following an 80-70 win over the FEU Tamaraws in their UAAP Season 86 collision Wednesday afternoon at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City. 

This is the seventh straight victory of the Green Archers in the tournament. 

With the game tied at 64-all early in the fourth quarter, La Salle caught fire. 

Shots by Evan Nelle, CJ Austria and Mark Nonoy made up the majority of the Archers’ run. 

The Taft-based cagers then took a 75-64 lead capped by back-to-back deuces by Raven Cortez. 

After LJay Gonzales stopped the bleeding for FEU, 75-66, Francis Escandor made a pair of free throws.

A pull-up 3-pointer by Kevin Quiambao stuck the dagger to the hearts of the Tamaraws and gave the Archers an 80-66 lead.

Cortez provided the spark off the bench for La Salle, leading his team with 16 points and three rebounds in 17 minutes of play. 

Nonoy scored 15 points, while MVP frontrunner Kevin Quiambao chipped in 13 points, 11 rebounds and five assists. 

Jorick Bautista paced the Tamaraws with 17 points and four rebounds. 

La Salle is now holding a 10-3 record and will face archrival Ateneo in its last game of the elims. 

FEU dropped to 3-10 for the season.