By MARK REY MONTEJO
Reigning champion La Salle and University of the Philippines rekindle their rivalry as they begin their battle for basketball glory in Game 1 of the UAAP Season 87 men’s finals at the Smart Araneta Coliseum Sunday, Dec. 8.
The Green Archers, who are gunning for a second straight championship, try to assert their mastery over their last season’s runners-up Fighting Maroons in their marquee duel scheduled at 5:30 p.m.
Both La Salle and UP cruised past their respective semis assignments with the former taking down Adamson and the latter booting out UST.
Looking back in their duel in the preliminaries, La Salle asserted its dominance and swept UP – first with a 68-56 win on Oct. 6 before following it up with a 77-66 triumph on Nov. 10.
But expect a grittier and hungrier UP as it tries to end the losing spell against La Salle, especially since its last win over La Salle was still back in Season 86 when Harold Alarcon and Malick Diouf completed a 97-67 demolition in Game 1.
While obviously the favorite to win it all, Green Archers head coach Topex Robinson refused to get complacent, playing down their two victories over the Fighting Maroons this season
“Again, what’s obvious during those first two meetings was, you know, UP didn’t have a complete lineup. I guess that’s one thing we haven’t seen,” Robinson said. “Going back to our FilOil meetings, they beat us twice. That’s one thing that we have to remember.”
“Again, in this Finals, it’s about how we’re gonna be prepared. We know UP is always gonna be all-out and they like to be the best that they could be. And this is just gonna make us better, “ he added.
Back-to-back MVP Kevin Quiambao is out to show the way for La Salle that also features Mike Phillips, Joshua David, EJ Gollena, Henry Agunanne and Lian Ramiro at La Salle’s forefront.
After being absent in the first and second round encounter with La Salle, Quentin Millora-Brown and JD Cagulangan are back in action and are anticipated to make impact on both ends alongside Alarcon, Francis Lopez, Gerry Abadiano and Terrence Fortea to finally exact their revenge over the Archers.
Meanwhile, UST challenges the unblemished NU when they clash in the first game of the women’s basketball finals set at 1 p.m.
The defending champs Tigresses are eager to take down the Lady Bulldogs, who are still untouchable after sweeping their tasks to earn an outright finals ticket.
Kent Pastrana is set to pick up the cudgels for the Espana-based team with gunner Tacky Tacatac at her back to help the team near closer to its two-peat aspiration while the Bulldogs are relying on Angel Surada and Camille Clarin as they target to bring back the NU’s glory in the division.
