If there were any concerns about how the De La Salle Green Archers performed during their win over the weekend against Adamson, the defending champions of the UAAP quickly put those to bed with a 99-78 blowout victory over the UE Red Warriors on Wednesday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Dominant from the opening tip until the final buzzer, La Salle improved its record in UAAP Season 80 to 9-1 and clinched a Final Four berth for the second straight year.
Ricci Rivero says N?PE! #UAAPSeason80 pic.twitter.com/lrsYgT4E0g
— ABS-CBN Sports (@abscbnsports) October 25, 2017
Ben Mbala led the Archers with 25 points and 14 rebounds while defending UE’s explosive scorer Alvin Pasaol.
Pasaol, who had 49 points when both teams met in the first round, led UE again this time with 23 points and 9 boards.
Andrei Caracut threads the needle to find Santi Santillan for the slaaaam! #UAAPSeason80 pic.twitter.com/SPGFRvFNQe
— ABS-CBN Sports (@abscbnsports) October 25, 2017
Santi Santillan had another strong outing with 14 points and 11 boards while Ricci Rivero continued to score in double-figures, this time finishing with 13 points. Second-year big Justine Baltazar also played well with 13 points while going a perfect 6-of-6 from the field.
La Salle shot the ball an impressive 49% while limiting UE to 39% shooting. The Warriors also struggled from the foul stripe, hitting just 13-of-24 while turning the ball over 23 times.
Ricci Rivero with a man's jam! #UAAPSeason80 pic.twitter.com/d79r2F0qFI
— ABS-CBN Sports (@abscbnsports) October 25, 2017
The Green Archers coughed up the ball 26 times but did have 25 assists.
La Salle will aim to go 10-2 on Sunday when they face the currently-winless UST Growling Tigers.
Final Score: UE 78-99 DLSU#UAAPSeason80 ?#Stats pic.twitter.com/0nUWjZSPXf
— Pong Ducanes (@ompongski) October 25, 2017