MANILA – De La Salle University Green Archers banked on the hot shooting of Kirell Montalbo to score a 91-72 win over Gilas Pilipinas Cadets in the 2018 FilOil Flying V Preseason Cup at the San Juan Arena.
The Bacolod City-native guard finished with 25 points on Friday night to lead the way for the Green Archers (2-0).
Aljun Melecio added 18 markers while rookie big man Taane Samuel had 16 markers.
After being down by as much as 20 points in the second quarter, the Green Archers relied on Leonard Santillan and Samuel to come to within 39-47 at the half. They pulled even closer in the third period and took a 66-65 lead on a Justine Baltazar hit.
The game was tied at 71-all following a dunk by Gilas’ Kobe Paras when the Green Archers went on a huge 20-1 scoring run behind Montalbo’s four three-point conversions for a 19-point advantage.
“Malaking opportunity talaga. Malaking test sa amin ang National Team,” said Green Archers head coach Louie Gonzalez. “Kapag National Team, best of the best eh. Siguro ‘yung sitwasyon na ‘yun, kelangan ‘wag umalis sa ginagawa.”
Paras finished with 19 points while Juan Gomez de Llano and Arvin Tolentino chipped in with 14 markers apiece for Gilas (0-2).
Former Green Archers Ricci and Rasheligh Rivero combined for six markers.
In the second game, Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles fended off a late run by the San Beda University Red Lions to escape with a 69-68 victory for a 2-0 start in the tournament.
The Blue Eagles seemed headed for a win after building a 65-57 lead late in the fourth but the Red Lions countered with a huge run to come to within 68-69. Missed shots from Red Lions’ Donald Tankoua allowed the Blue Eagles to escape with a win./PN
