Ateneo, La Salle finally face off in Homegrown tilt

Arch rivals the Ateneo Blue Eagles and La Salle Green Archers collide in a much-awaited showdown in the Filoil- Flying V Homegrown Invitational Cup this Sunday at 4 p.m. at the Ultra.

The Eagles in the last 68th UAAP season, never won a game against the Archers. Furthermore, they missed the 69th UAAP championship by a hairline to the UST Growling Tigers.

The comebacking La Salle squad, on the other hand, wants to prove that it is still one of the best in amateur basketball. The Archers are raring to prove against their archrival that their previous victories were no flukes and that they can win again.

Ateneo’s core is the future team of 2007 led by Jai Reyes, Cris Tiu and Zion Laterre. The team will be reinforced with JC Intal who would like to play a final game against La Salle before moving on to the pros.

La Salle, on the other hand, will parade old reliable cagers like Rico Maierhoffer, JV Casio and TY Tang.

A lot of revelations have been put in the open with the opening game of both teams. Against San Beda, Eagles Ford Arao and Laterre stood out. Arao, surprised the crowd with his performance of 11 points and 8 rebounds. Laterre also showed his rebounding prowess by grabbing 10 boards.

Expect homegrown talents like Reyes, Ken Barracoso and Johann Uichico to show their worth for the Eagles.

The Archers also bared future Archer stars as DLSU defeated Letran in a tightly fought contest that had to be decided in overtime. Homegrown Green and White cagers, Simon David Atkins, Marko Batrevic and James Meneses will also give it their all come game time.

Preceding the main Ateneo-La Salle game are the Ateneo Lady Eagles vs the La Salle Lady Archers for the 12 nn tiff, followed by the Ateneo HS (defending UAAP champs) vs the LSGH Greenies at 2 p.m.