MANILA — Evan Nelle stayed true to his word and led the De La Salle Green Archers to victory against the UP Fighting Maroons on Sunday night.

• UAAP: La Salle's Nelle still confident despite huge loss in Game 1

The 5-foot-10 court general, who vowed that DLSU will not bow down in Game 2 of the UAAP Season 86 Finals, made wonders for his team in their 82-60 win over UP by stuffing the stat sheet despite struggling with his own shot.

• UAAP: La Salle turns the tables on UP to force do-or-die Game 3

“I was actually gigil nung first half,” the outspoken Nelle shared after putting up four points on just 2-of-12 shooting from the field, but with 12 rebounds, 10 assists, five steals, a block, and only one turnover.

“I wanted to see one go in, pero malas. So I just [looked] for my teammates, try to calm down, and hope they make me look good. Which they did,” he added.

His playmaking and distribution were instrumental in La Salle’s decent shooting especially from beyond the arc, with the Topex Robinson-mentored squad converting 12 of their 38 attempts from beyond the arc.

But Nelle said that it goes beyond how they performed on the court.

Aside from their stellar play last night, the former San Beda Red Lion revealed that a players' only meeting is also to be credited to how they responded against State U.

“We had a players meeting, a team meeting. We had nothing to lose, we had our backs against the wall, so we just got to come out blazing and trust in each other,” Nelle said.

“Wala na eh. We had no other choice but to win. We had to match their physicality, aggressiveness. Which I think naman we did, and it showed out. Kudos to my teammates. We really trusted each other. We really came out, this won't be our last game. It showed out naman,” he added.

-- Promise delivered for Evan --

Nelle has delivered on his promise after the first game, but La Salle will face unfamiliar territory yet again come Wednesday's Game 3.

No one from the squad has experienced a UAAP Finals rubber match, especially since all but Mark Nonoy have played in the league’s championship round.

Fortunately for La Salle, the former Red Lions champion has already experienced playing in a do-or-die game in his last year with San Beda.

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“I just have to be the leader that I am,” Nelle said.

“[But] we have a lot of leaders in our team. Everybody could speak up, everybody could do something, and everybody could contribute. The only thing that I could bring is maybe motivational talks, or maybe try to calm them down when things are getting out of hand.”

“But I already trust my teammates. They know what to do, we know what to do. We just have to execute. That's just it.”

Nelle then explained what needs to happen for La Salle to finally bring home the UAAP hoops title back to Vito Cruz.

“It comes down to pagalingan na lang itong Game 3. UP will be ready for whatever we have to bring, we will be ready with whatever they have to bring, but how I see the game 3 is pagalingan na lang talaga ito,” he said.

“Hopefully we can get Game 3 and get the glory.”

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