#FilOil2019: UP rally past La Salle in an overtime thriller

SAN JUAN -- University of the Philippines have to come from the backdoor, overcoming a massive deficit in the second half to repulse La Salle in overtime, 92-85 in the FilOil Flying V Preseason Cup Sunday evening.

The Fighting Maroons looked dead and buried when they are down by 14 against the Green Archers, but they fought back harder to get their second straight win in Group A.

Playing against his old school, Ricci Rivero took over in the final minute and carried it through the extra session to lead all scorers with 28 points, most of it came from the free throw line where he hit 13/14.

Javi Gomez de Liaño provided the lift for Rivero as he scattered 25 points, with Jun Manzo flirting with a triple double where he was just a rebound and three assists away shy of it while scoring 18.

For La Salle, Justine Baltazar had a double-double of 22 points and 15 rebounds with Ralph Cu providing the long ranged help off the bench by hitting all of his 15 points from beyond the arc.

The game was tight for the first half and the opening stages of the third until La Salle unleashed an 11-4 blast to erect a 60-46 lead on a Cu trey, before a UP blitz cut it to single digits at the end of the quarter.

With Bright Akhuetie hobbled due to back problems, Gomez de Liaño, Noah Webb and Jerson Prado took the cudgels in shackling La Salle's front court, with State U slowly chipping away La Salle's lead in the final canto, forcing them into a wild shootout in the final minute.

Rivero made sure that there will be five more minutes by sinking his pair of free throws off an Andrei Caracut foul with 13 seconds left.

UP had to fight through another onslaught, this time when Jordan Bartlett caught fire, but Gomez de Liaño scored a massive three-point play with 54 ticks left to give coach Bo Perasol his first win against La Salle in FilOil play.

The Scores:

UP 92 -- Rivero 28, Gomez de Liaño 25, Manzo 18, Akhuetie 8, Prado, 7, Webb 2, Gob, 2 Murrell 2, Jaboneta 0, Spencer 0, Tungcab 0, Gozum 0

La Salle 85 -- Baltazar 22, Cu 15, Melecio 13, Bartlett 12, Lojera 10, Caracut 9, Manuel 3, Manaytay 1, Bates 0, Lim 0, Serrano 0, Capacio 0

Quarter scores: 20-17, 38-40, 53-62, 74-74 (reg), 92-85 (OT)

(photo by FilOil FlyingV Sports)