La Salle routs UST to open FilOil cage wars

SAN JUAN -- De La Salle University showed to former coach Aldin Ayo that they still had the Mayhem in their system after routing UST, 72-49 to open the 13th edition of the FilOil FlyingV Preseason Premier Cup at the FilOil FlyingV Centre.

The Green Archers of Jermain Byrd overcame a sluggish opening frame to to tore the Growling Tigers apart, which was punctuated by their merciless defense that limited them to less than 50 points in the entire game to begin play in Group A of the seniors division.

Andrei Caracut came off the bench to fire 15 of his 19 points in the second quarter to turn a see-saw battle into a one-sided beatdown to send a message to the rest of the field that the four-time champions are here to play, with big man Justine Baltazar added 10 for La Salle.

UST enjoyed a 21-20 lead midway into the second when La Salle unleashed a 12-0 run to take the lead away from the Tigers for good, with Caracut contributing 7 of those points as the Green Archers enjoyed a 39-27 lead at the break after outscoring UST 28-15 in that period.

La Salle clinched the win the third period where their defense held the Tigers to just 8 points, with the lead ballooned to 27 points, 66-39 in the fourth to coast to their third straight win against UST, since sweeping them last season in the UAAP

Soulemane Chabi Yo had 16 points on his UST debut and added 17 rebounds for a double-double.

The scores:

LA SALLE 72 -- Caracut 19, Baltazar 10, Serrano 9, Manuel 9, Lojera 6, Melecio 5, Cu 5, Capacio 5, Bartlett 2, Manaytay 2, Bates 0, Lim 0, Escandor 0, Bonggay 0.

UST 49 -- Chabi Yo 16, Ando 12, Concepcion 5, Subido 4, Bataller 4, Lee 3, Huang 2, Abando 2, Nonoy 1, Paraiso 0, Tarranza 0, Marcos 0, Pangilinan 0.

Quarter scores: 11-12, 39-27, 56-35, 72-49

(file photo courtesy of FilOil FlyingV Sports)