With their season on the line, the Green Archers turned to Jacob Cortez, who’s proving he’s really a chip off the old block.
In a game that went back and forth, where the loser would go home and the winner would advance to the UAAP Season 88 men’s basketball finals, Jacob Cortez once again showed he wasn’t afraid of the big moment.
The DLSU Green Archers found themselves trailing the top-seeded NU Bulldogs by two points, with less than two minutes left in their winner-take-all Final Four game. With their shot clock fast approaching zero, Cortez took it upon himself to bail his team out. He hit an almost improbable step-back triple from the corner that gave DLSU a 72-71 lead.
Moments later, after the Bulldogs had tied it with a free throw, Cortez again asked for the ball at the top of the key. He dribbled to his right, pulled up from 15 feet and buried a jumper that pushed the Green Archers ahead for good.
Those two plays were simply the actions of a winner, someone who is always cool as ice. Or maybe cool as a cat. You know, a Cool Cat, just like The Cool Cat Mike Cortez, two-time UAAP champion and father of Jacob.
The younger Cortez has always tried to chart his own basketball path, wanting to step out of the enormous shadow of his dad.
But when Jacob and the team went through a rough patch earlier this season, he found himself seeking advice from Mike.
“Coach Topex (Robinson) mentioned when people started talking all this stuff on social media. I mean, I’m always on social media. It doesn’t really affect me. Those two games where I played really bad, I called him and he got mad at me.
“He was like, ‘Now you want to talk to me?’ I said, ‘Sorry.’”
When the final buzzer sounded, Jacob Cortez immediately peered through the crowd looking for his father Mike.
“I was looking for him earlier, but I forgot he had a PBA game to go to. Dad, if you’re watching this, love you. Shout out to you.
“(Winning a championship) would be really big and I want to win it for him.”
Cortez finished with 29 points, including 9 in the fourth quarter, but he deflected praise to his teammates.
“I want to give credit to my teammates and my coaches,” he said. “We all worked so hard for this moment. And I know all you guys see is my shots, but Mike (Phillips) and JC (Macalalag) did a good job of defending their opponents.
“Even though (Jake) Figueroa had 21, it was a tough 21 for him. And I think that’s what helped us win the game. That’s what helped me get into my groove. And then again, we’re going to celebrate today. But it’s only going to get tougher once we reach the finals.”
The Green Archers became just the third fourth-seeded team to knock off the top seed since the Final Four format was adopted in 1994, and first in 11 years. Now, they face a familiar foe – the defending champions UP Fighting Maroons, whom they’ll play in a third straight UAAP finals.
For Cortez, it will be his first time to be part of this budding finals rivalry. That doesn’t mean, though, that he’s a stranger to a championship atmosphere. In 2023, he was part of that San Beda Red Lions team that won the NCAA Season 99 title by overcoming a twice-to-beat disadvantage in the Final Four and a 0-1 deficit in the finals.
“You can say I’ve been in that position before. We were twice to win. Same thing, we had a lot of doubters. People counted us out.”
The Green Archers lost their crown last season to the Fighting Maroons, so helping them regain it motivates Jacob Cortez.
“It means a lot to me. I’ve said in a lot of interviews that this is my dream, to play for La Salle. I’ve been watching them since I was a kid. I actually watched them when they won the championship.
“And now I’m in that spot where I’m in the finals with them. I’m with Mike, Coach T. Like I said earlier, I’m not going to win alone. I have 100% trust in these guys that they’ll do whatever it takes to win.
“Really, all you need is trust.”
Images by Kieran Punay/KLIQ, Inc.