SECOND COMING
The cool and unflappable demeanor. The jersey number. The astute playmaking. The steely shotmaking. Those should be enough to link two generations of La Salle point guards—beyond the same name on the back of their shirts.
It’s Jacob Cortez now. It was Mike Cortez before.
The son just doesn’t see it yet. Or refuses to.
“I haven’t won a championship for these guys yet,” Jacob said, a reference to the two titles the older Cortez won for the Archers in the 1990s. “For me, I see [no similarities] yet.”
He took a step toward that championship he seeks, spearheading La Salle’s 78-72 victory over Ateneo—a fiercely rival program his dad once tortured in the past—in the UAAP Season 88 men’s basketball tournament on Wednesday at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
La Salle thus sewed up the Final Four by taking the fourth seed, eliminating both Ateneo and Far Eastern University.
FEU defeated the University of Santo Tomas Tigers, 81-79, in the earlier match, and was pinning its hopes on an Ateneo win to forge a triple tie at 7-7 and send the race to the No. 4 seed into a stepladder knockout.
Jacob Cortez had other things in mind, taking charge as the Green Archers fought back from 11 points down and then hitting the clutch baskets in the stretch to seal his team’s eighth win in 14 games.
Cortez breezed his way to 20 points, seven assists and three rebounds, then added a crucial steal in the clutch to snuff out the Eagles’ hopes of turning the game around.
He made 9 of 12 attempts from the field, scoring 12 of his total in the fourth quarter—all while keeping the even-keeled, cool demeanor his dad had always exhibited during his heyday.
The younger Cortez, however, wasn’t about stepping out of shadows.
“No pressure, no pressure at all,” he told the Inquirer when he was asked about living up to his father’s legacy.
He’s all about winning titles like his old man did.
“Hopefully, I will fulfill that this year,” he said.
Longer route
Cortez and the Archers will need to take a longer route to the crown, though. La Salle faces No. 1 National University in the Final Four. The Bulldogs not only won both games against the Archers this season, but they will have the benefit of twice-to-beat protection in the semifinals.
In the other Final Four matchup, defending champion University of the Philippines, the second seed, battles No. 3 UST. The Maroons also own a twice-to-beat bonus.
Mike Phillips, who had 13 points and 16 rebounds, broke the last deadlock with a tip-in that gave La Salle a 74-72 spread, 46 seconds remaining. Phillips and Cortez then pinched a cutting Dom Escobar, allowing Cortez to pick off a tight pass by Jared Bahay.
The crafty guard then buried a dagger jumper with 12.4 seconds remaining for a 76-72 cushion that deflated Ateneo’s hopes.
“I have practiced those kinds of shots ever since I was a kid,” Cortez said. “I work on it by myself in the gym. This is the best way to do it, during a La Salle-Ateneo game, a really crucial game.”
