DLSU’s Escandor, David, Austria step up in Game 2 win

A timely re-emergence rescued De La Salle from a nasty fall from grace.

Francis Escandor, Joshua David and CJ Austria played key roles and anchored the Green Archers in their series-tying Game 2 victory over University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons in their best-of-three finals clash on Sunday, Dec. 3, at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

La Salle head tactician Topex Robinson was pleased to see the trio guard thrive as the Green Archers continued to fight another day in their bid for their first UAAP title in seven years.

While UP was held to only two triples in the decisive win, La Salle made 12 of their overall attempts and held the former to just 33 points in the last three quarters.

Escandor, who started for La Salle, carried out a team-high 14 points capped by a last-second triple to give the squad a 22-point winning margin in the endgame, while David finished with 12 markers on an efficient 4-of-6 shooting from the outside.

Meanwhile, Austria tallied 11 points highlighted by back-to-back three-pointers in the endgame.

“They just had the opportunity. With what we discussed during the preparation for this Game 2 is, when you have the chance to really take that shot, you gotta shoot it with confidence. Those are the shots that they’ve been really working on during the practice. We have to give them the green light to really shoot it. Luckily, they went in. More than that, it’s really more of the way they really defended the wings of the guards of UP,” said Robinson.

“Give them the scoring, but what worked for them is really the defense.”

With the newfound championship form, Escandor was glad to contribute in the best way possible as newly-crowned MVP Kevin Quiambao and graduating Evan Nelle regain footing in the championship series.

“First of all, I’m just really, really happy that we got the win. Coming from a big loss, we really wanted to bounce back. No matter what our mindset was na hindi kami magpapatalo rito this game, we really wanted to win and we showed that we want to,” said Escandor.

“Basically, kami ni Josh, we just wanna support Kevin and Evan the best way we can. Our shots felt good, we were making our shots and I think that’s what kept us going. And from then on, we have the best player in the league with us. And also, we had Evan Nelle, so we just try to support him as much as we can. And I think we did a good job.”

For David, being trusted by the coaching staff to lead the team in the Finals was the only thing he needed to execute fairly well.

“Sobrang saya kasi naka-bounce back kami after ng malaking talo namin sa Game 1. Pero ‘yung malking factor siguro ‘yung sinabahan kami ni coach Topex na pag-open kayo tira niyo and shoot with confidence lang. Para sa amin as players, ang laking boost nun,” David said.

David and Austria led the bench in outscoring the starters with a combined 47 points from the rest of the Green Archers, something that was missing in their huge Game 1 loss.

Robinson is hoping that the squad could sustain or even better its defensive play in the face of the expected UP fightback in the decider Game 3 on Wednesday, Dec. 6, at the same venue.

“It’s really something that’s gonna be a factor. They limited us to 60 points or even 50 ata during Game 1. We know what it takes to win against UP and that’s to make sure playing each and every possession. Making sure that somebody has to be guarded. No easy shots because we gave them a lot of turnover points during Game 1. They had 24,” sadi Robinson.

“Part of that also is a reminder that our offense will help our defense. We turned the ball over, UP’s just gonna be running and making layups. That’s one factor that we really took in, learning from that mistake in Game 1. And hopefully, we could sustain or even better what we did defensively in Game 2.