De La Salle Green Archers during Game 1 of the UAAP Season 88 Finals at the Mall of Asia Arena on December 10, 2025. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News
MANILA (UPDATED) — De La Salle University is one step closer towards its goal of claiming the UAAP Season 88 men's basketball crown.
This, as the Green Archers outlasted University of the Philippines, 74-70, to draw first blood in the best-of-three Finals on Wednesday in front of 18,210 spectators at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
Jacob Cortez, with his dad Mike watching in the audience, drained the dagger triple with 27.4 seconds left on the clock to pull away from the Fighting Maroons, 74-70—which turned out to be the final score—just after the defending champions came within one after a Harold Alarcon basket.
Vhoris Marasigan and Mike Phillips both completely missed their trip to the charity line following duty fouls from the Katipunan ballers, but the Fighting Maroons could not make them pay as Alarcon and Terrence Fortea's attempts from the arc went wide.
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Before Cortez's clutch heroics, Luis Pablo kept the Green Archers alive with key plays in the fourth quarter.
La Salle survived Alarcon's 34-point explosion, with Cortez leading the pack with 21 points and four rebounds.
"It was really a fierce battle between two competitors, and knowing this is gonna be something that will be so emotionally-packed, we're just glad and fortunate and blessed that we were able to sustain the onslaught of Harold Alarcon," said coach Topex Robinson during the postgame press conference.
Robinson went on to commend guard Kean Baclaan, who backstopped Cortez on the wing and gave the latter the much-needed rest throughout the game.
READ: UAAP: Jacob Cortez eager to replicate what dad Mike did for La Salle
"The reason Jacob was fresh was because Kean really gave us good support. We were able to rest Jacob for a long time on the bench because Kean was delivering also with what was expected of Kean," he said.
For his part, Baclaan had nine markers and six dimes, Doy Dungo stepped up and totaled 15 points and two steals, and Phillips had nine rebounds and seven points.
Francis Nnoruka was the only other UP player in double-digit territory with 13 points to go with six rebounds.
The Taft cagers aim to close out the series in Game 2 on Sunday, December 14, at the same venue.