Tams Archers’ easy target

The De La Salle Green Archers were all business in opening their campaign for a fifth straight UAAP championship yesterday, fashioning out an 85-71 demolition of the Far Eastern University Tamaraws at the Araneta Coliseum.

Except for a brief stretch of lapses of their neophytes at the start of the second period, it was practically an all-La Salle show, with the Green Archers unleashing their might on both ends of the court.

Obviously further honed by their PBL stint, the Archers jumped the gun on the Tams and, though squandering double-digit spreads at the outset of the second quarter, the four-time defending champions easily made a breakaway for that auspicious debut in the 65th edition of the country’s leading collegiate league.

"We’re fortunate FEU played bad. That was not the FEU team I was projecting," said La Salle coach Franz Pumaren. "We took control at the start and the flow of the game went in our favor till the end."

University of Santo Tomas joined La Salle, University of the Philippines and Ateneo in the early lead in the tourney as it overcame a slow start to drub Adamson, 74-61, in the day’s other game.

Cyrus Baguio, who sat out the 2001 UAAP season due to academic deficiencies, made a remarkable return stint with UST, scoring a game-high 16 points to lead the Tigers past the Falcons, who skidded to a 35th successive loss stretching four seasons.