Archers blows out Red Warriors, wins third straight
After riding through tight games in the first round, the DLSU Green Archers had their first blowout win of the season with a convincing 73-52 victory over the UE Red Warriors last August 25 at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
With this win as the second round opener, the Archers improved to a 5-3 record, knotting the team with the NU Bulldogs in the standings.
Without captain LA Revilla and premier forward Yutien Andrada, the Archers managed to pace the game wide open in the second half through their solid defense and well-run offense.This dominating victory marks the end of the Taft-based squad’s second round slump against the Warriors, which they had not been able to beat in the past two seasons’ second round matches.
“We lost L.A. and Yutien in this game, but I’m very proud of the boys because they stepped up and they filled in when they were needed,” said Head coach Gee Abanilla as he praised all his players, who really provided the right intensity for the game.
Battle of errors
The game was marred with plenty of turnovers; behind those 23 turnovers were 14 points converted by UE.
Meanwhile, the Recto quintet committed 15 errors which resulted to 12 easy points for the Archers, helping them to keep the game close before eventually pulling it away.
“I think this win against UE is the first time na naging medyo komportable. Yung other games kasi close palagi,” adds coach Abanilla.
Unsung Archers
With floor general Revilla and the lanky Andrada carrying most of the scoring load leading to as much as 20 points a game, a lot of the guys had to raise their game to make amends for the absence of the two key players.
Arnold Van Opstal and Jovet Mendoza took charge of the void spot of Andrada in the middle as they combined for 20 points and 20 rebounds.
Van Opstal’s momentum-swinging throw down over Chris Javier in the seven minute mark ignited a 14-9 midway to the last canto, as the Archers placed the exclamation point to end the game.
Jeron Teng and Norbert Torres produced their expected outputs as they both notched impressive double-doubles, with the former pouring in 16 markers and grabbing 10 boards, while the latter scored 10 points and 11 boards.
Originally posted on The Lasallian, the official student publication of De La Salle University by Adiel De Jesus, Joaqui Flores, and Brian Lance Tamayao
