For the second straight season, it's La Salle vs UP in Game 3 of the UAAP Finals.
The DLSU Green Archers and the UP Fighting Maroons are headed to another high-stakes Game 3 as their Finals series in UAAP Season 87 comes to an exciting climax on Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
After multiple entertaining matchups this season, the rivalry is set to reach a crescendo in the two schools’ second straight Finals battle, with La Salle holding a superior head-to-head record against the Diliman-based team stretching from last year’s championship matchup.
Currently winners of five of their last six meetings in the UAAP, La Salle targets another Game 3 victory for the title. But UP, painstakingly close to the championship in Game 2, hopes to overturn its fate.
Before Game 3 rolls around on Sunday, let’s flash back to how the deciding game panned out in Season 86.
La Salle def. UP, 73-69
December 6, 2024
Smart Araneta Coliseum
Time and time again, Kevin Quiambao has been the answer to La Salle’s prayers.
More than a year before his Game 2 heroics last Wednesday, Quiambao was already doing the heavy lifting for the DLSU Green Archers in the UAAP Finals.
In eerily similar circumstances to their most recent win over UP, Quiambao was the driver of La Salle’s comeback bid in Game 2 of the Season 86 Finals against the Fighting Maroons in 2023, where he helped the Green Archers overcome a seven point deficit, 65-58, with eight minutes left in the game.
The then-second year player sparked a deciding 12-2 run that gave La Salle the advantage, 70-67, with four minutes remaining.
He then followed it up with a block on UP’s Gerry Abadiano with 30 ticks left, before sealing the game with three free throws.
Living or dying by the hand of Quiambao has always been La Salle’s mantra, and the Green Archers aren’t really to blame when you have a two-time MVP on your side.
But with a determined UP side led by veterans JD Cagulangan, Harold Alarcon, Abadiano, and young stalwart Francis Lopez, La Salle is likely to face even tougher challenges this time around.
Coming so close to snapping a string of runner-up finishes, the Fighting Maroons will surely come out with a vengeance in Game 3.
As far as La Salle is concerned, it’ll go down to which team will want it more.
“I’m sure this is gonna be all out. Whoever wanted it more, we will come out as champions. We're just happy that we're given this excellent opportunity. For sure we’re gonna work everything, we’re gonna compete and then, given the chance, whatever happens, we're just gonna keep on pushing.” said La Salle head coach Topex Robinson.
La Salle faces UP for the final time this season for all the marbles on Sunday, December 15, at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. Tip off is penciled in at 5:30 p.m.