The De La Salle Green Archers were shredded by University of the East, 46-65, to open the 2009 UAAP season on July 11 at the Araneta Coliseum.
The Archers could not get their rhythm going as they seemed disoriented whole game long. The last time they led was at the end of the first quarter with a 10-9 tally.
From there, it was all UE as the Red Warriors broke away for good in the second half, going ahead by as many as 22, 63-41, with a Paul Lee conversion, a few ticks before the two-minute warning.
This is the lowest output of the Green Archers since losing to FEU, 52-70, back in 2004.
No one from the green and white squad scored in double digits as James Mangahas made only nine points in 4/12 field goal shooting. He also accounted for seven rebounds and three steals.
Rookie Sam Marata and Peejay Barua both recorded seven markers.
Meanwhile, Pari Llagas topscored for East with 15 points, shooting 7/10 from the line, along with seven boards. Lee came up with 11 markers, six caroms, and seven feeds.
Paul Zamar and Elmer Espiritu both scored nine points with the big man notching 14 rebounds and three blocks.
Both teams started off slow as points came in trickles and turnovers and misses in droves with the first quarter scoreline resembling more like an American football game.
As the Recto-based camp picked up its pace, the green and white remained static. Pari Llagas started making headway, scoring seven of the last nine points of UE in the half.
The only semblance of a run the Archers did was a 5-0 counter-rally from a 4-0 spurt by the Warriors. Two fastbreak layups courtesy of Paul Zamar and Raffy Reyes made it a 21-14 affair midway of the second period. Bader Malabes scored on a three-pointer from the wing then Barua followed up Malabes’ missed three in the next possession to trim the lead to two, 19-21, 4:25 remaining.
The red and white side just kept on piling the points in the second half as the Archers played lost and tentative. Set plays were slow to materialize and conversions were few and far from between.
The closest De La Salle got was three, 33-36, 3:24 in the third, Simon Atkins giving a bulls eye of a lead pass to Joshua Webb for a transition lay in.
Problems compounded in the fourth when DLSU-M went scoreless for six minutes, while eating UE’s dust along the way. The UE gallery were chanting “Blow out! Blow out!” during a timeout break four minutes to go in the ballgame and the Warriors up, 56-41.
Stats worth taking note is that the Green Archers shot 24% at the field, 9/18 at the freethrow line, committing 22 errors, leading to 18 UE turnover points.
Boxscores:
East 65 – Llagas 15, Lee 11, Zamar 9, Espiritu 9, Lingganay 6, Reyes 5, Acuña 4, Ayala 2, Alabanza 2, Acibar 2, Tagarda 0.
De La Salle 46 – Mangahas 9, Marata 7, Barua 7, Webb 5, Malabes 5, Villanueva 4, Ferdinand 3, Tolentino 2, Co 2, Bringas 2, Bagatsing 0, Atkins 0, Andrada 0.
Quarters: 9-10, 30-24, 43-35, 65-46.