By Jerome Lagunzad
Game Today
(Smart-Araneta Coliseum)
4 p.m. – La Salle vs Adamson
Defending champion La Salle aims to make a quick passage to the finals when it takes on dangerous Adamson today as the Final Four round in the UAAP Season 80 basketball tournament gets going at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.
The rejuvenated Green Archers, who swept the second round of eliminations and finished No. 2, will go into the 4 p.m. encounter armed with a twice-to-beat advantage against the third-seeded Soaring Falcons in a rematch of last year’s semis battle.
La Salle, perhaps back in its most menacing form of old, is tipped as the odds-on favorite after asserting its mastery over Adamson in the elimination round with an average winning margin of nine points.
However, Green Archers coach Aldin Ayo refuses to be swayed, aware that his counterpart Franz Pumaren, who already has five UAAP titles tucked under his belt when he was still with La Salle, is also brilliant enough to squeeze the best from his youthful Adamson unit.
“It will be a dogfight,” said Ayo. “Our last game ((80-74) in the second round was close. It was decided less than a minute or two minutes. For sure, they’re going to prepare hard so it will be difficult for us. We just have to prepare well against them.”
Pumaren is confident that the Soaring Falcons, who’ve been playing in the shadows of the Green Archers and the top-seeded Ateneo Blue Eagles all season long, can rise to the big challenge and force a do-or-die affair.
“I think we’ll all be hypocrites here if you gonna say that we’re contented with the third place,” said Pumaren.
“We’re a young team and we’re still searching for that particular moment. But what’s important right now is we’re enjoying every moment, every game.”
The Green Archers are having such feeling these days after a shaky first-round that raised questions about their readiness to defend the crown that they claimed behind a near flawless showing last year capped by a two-game sweep of the Blue Eagles in the finals.
“There were lots of distractions in the first round. But we were able to overcome them, and we were able to focus in the second round. It’s just being focused and being committed to the objective, which is to win the championship,” Ayo said.
Resurgent La Salle guard Ricci Rivero, who is expected to lead the Archers’ potent attack alongside reigning two-time league MVP Ben Mbala, echoed Ayo’s observation.
Meanwhile, the Soaring Falcons are sweating over the fitness of top gunner Jerrick Ahanmisi and do-it-all guard Jerie Pingoy who have been nursing their respective ankle injuries.
