The La Salle Green Archers turned to heralded but unproven rookie Prince Rivero to rescue them from the jaws of defeat and the latter delivered, scoring eight points in the final canto that lifted the reigning champions to a 60-58 win over the previously undefeated University of the East Red Warriors in the UAAP men’s basketball tournament last Sunday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
With big men Jason Perkins and Arnold Van Opstal fouling out late in the game, La Salle head coach Juno Sauler tapped Rivero to play the big man spot.
Fearless and undaunted by the task at hand, Rivero scored a three-point play that gave the Archers the lead before making another basket that pushed them to a 60-56 lead with just 44.1 ticks left.
La Salle evened up its record to 2-2 (win-loss) in spite committing an unsightly 36 turnovers that enabled UE to erect a 46-36 lead heading to the final period.
Jeron Teng led the Archers with 18 points while Norbert Torres added 14 markers and 14 rebounds. UE fell to 2-1.
In the first game, the Far Eastern University Tamaraws improved to 2-1 with an 85-71 shellacking of the hapless University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons. /Correspondent Jonas Panerio