La Salle’s Mike Phillips vs. UST in UAAP Season 87 – MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net
Michael Phillips was in a bleak situation leading up to La Salle’s clash with the University of Santo Tomas (UST) in the UAAP Season 87 Men’s Basketball Tournament.
But that didn’t stop him from shining a light on the Green Archers. The Green Archers trailed in the first quarter but came away with an 88-67 victory over the trailing Growling Tigers on Sunday at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
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“Actually, I’ve been going through a lot of mental battles over the last few days and weeks,” Phillips said with a dominant performance of 12 points and 18 rebounds to lead the defending champion Archers to a 5-1 lead. After boosting his record, he spoke.
“I’m sure [that] If you’ve ever been in a situation where everything feels kind of dark, something is wrong, you don’t feel right, you just feel overwhelmed, the world just seems to revolve around you. I just tried my hardest. ”
Phillips was saddened by the death of Doreo Susalta, who worked as a night security guard at La Salle’s athletes’ dormitory. Ssarta, who became a good friend of the 6-foot-8 Power, recently passed away.
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“He just always did so much, so many times, and made that extra effort to make sure we were taken care of,” an emotional Phillips said. “Not only did he keep us safe, he always checked on us and I talked to him for hours at night and he taught me about Ilonggo and everything.
“He just passed away recently. He was healthy. He was one of my closest friends. I met him [when] “This is my first time in the Philippines,” he added.
After the Tigers came out strong with an 18-8 run, Phillips and Kevin Quiambao slowly tried to pull the Archers back. They took the lead before half-time, but did not concede another header.
bench power
Voris Marasigan was another bright light for La Salle with 11 points, and Kevin Quiambao, who again came off the bench, added 10 points and six rebounds.
Topex Robinson’s bench outscored UST’s opponents 49-18.
La Salle will conclude the first round on October 6 with a rematch of last year’s final against the University of the Philippines (UP), the only undefeated team remaining in the field.
“We’re excited. U.P. will be [a team] We will learn from it. We never really called them enemies. We always call them worthy competitors because their strengths are our weaknesses,” Robinson said. “We just want to enjoy playing against that strong team. It really excites us and I’m sure everyone will be talking about it.
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“It’s definitely going to be something for us to learn from them, and I know that’s something you’re all really excited about,” Robinson continued. “We’re just going to have fun and we just want to compete against the best teams in college. That’s the way we look at it.” INQ
