The Green Archers easily hurdled the undermanned UP Maroons, 84-63 today at the Araneta Coliseum, repeating their first round domination of UP to improve their chances of making the playoffs. The green-and-white led all the way to notch their 6th win against 3 losses and maintain their hold of 4th place. The Archers bucked the absence of Sam Marata due to illness, and compensated by playing a good all-around game on both ends of the court. The Maroons were hurt by the suspension of Padilla, as well as the second half knee injury of Lopez and the sprain of Co.
Defense again played a critical role in allowing the Archers to set the tone early in the game. In the first minute alone, the pressure defense forced 3 UP turnovers to unsettle the Maroons. The press made UP’s guards eat up the shot clock just to get the ball to the halfcourt line, but the unrelenting pressure afforded them few opportunities to set up their offensive. Some of their points were made off attempted steals by the Archers, which created gaps that the experienced UP players like Co were able to exploit. Midway through the final quarter, the Maroons had already racked up 25 turnovers to help the Archers race to their biggest lead at the 7:29 mark, 71-49. From there, the game went into garbage time.
The 3point shot was also established as a weapon in the first quarter, with Joel, Almond, and Luigi connecting from the long court to force UP to extend their defenses and open up the interior for our bigs. With the defense extended, our bigs led by Maui easily found the holes by moving well without the ball an open position where our guards got them the ball. With our outside shots falling and our inside game clicking, the UP game folded and the Archers went on to record their second rout of UP after taking the first game by 18.
Coach Dindo had the luxury of fielding in his bench, including Aiki Herrera who saw action for the first time and he managed to score in his first game. Of the 15 players who saw action, only Martin Reyes (ours!) did not score despite the attempts of his teammates to set him up. Gab continued to shoot well from the outside, hitting 2 triples together with Simon. Ferdinand again came off the bench, and provided some muscle inside to thwart the inside incursions of the Maroons. Oda finally connected on an open layup, and was more active offensively.
This was a good prelude to the much-awaited rematch with Ateneo on Sunday. We finally saw the Archers play consistently and loose for 4 quarters, the offense crisp and precise and the 40-minute pressure defense unrelenting. Let’s see if our young ‘uns have learned their lessons well by repeating that performance this weekend.
The scores:
DLSU 84 – Villanueva 14, Tampus 11, Banal 11, Vosotros 10, Atkins 7, Mendoza 6, de la Paz 5, Tolentino 5, Ferdinand 5, Elorde 5, Paredes 2, Webb 2, Andrada 2, Herrera 1, Reyes 0.
UP 63 – Silungan 12, Sison 12, Co 10, Ma. Reyes 9, Maniego 6, Hipolito 4, Manuel 3, Mi. Reyes 3, Evangelista 2, Lopez 2, Saret 0, Pascual 0, Juruena 0, Gomez 0, Gingerich 0.
Quarter scoring: 19-16, 37-29, 60-47, 84-63.