Pumaren sees better, wiser Green Archers

MANILA, Philippines - The young De La Salle Green Archers team is expected to come out from its harrowing loss to the FEU Tamaraws a more mature, dangerous crew.

DLSU coach Dindo Pumaren said he expects his wards to learn from their mistakes in their relatively successful Season 73 campaign, which ended with a 59-69 overtime heartbreaker to top seed Tamaraws in Thursday’s Final Four at the Araneta Coliseum.

“In a way, the boys’ inexperience showed in that game and FEU’s experience prevailed,” said Pumaren of the game in which his crew blew a nine-point in the fourth quarter and bungled a chance to win it in regulation.

“We made some decisions that were not part of my instructions, especially in the last seconds (of regulation). But this is a young team; hopefully next year, they will be more mature,” he added.

Pumaren was referring to the last 43 seconds of regulation, wherein FEU forward Paul Sanga nailed a game-tying triple, and to DLSU’s succeeding offensive, wherein Simon Atkins launched and muffed a triple.

“In the seconds before Sanga took the shot, our instruction was, since we had one more foul (to give), let him dribble or go for a drive. But he took a (nearly open) three-pointer and it’s a big shot,” said Pumaren.

“(On our offensive end), we really intended to go for a drive but they took a three-pointer instead and missed,” he added.

Hastening the Archers’ fall were their poor stints on the free-throw line. DLSU threw bricks six times in the fourth and missed another three in extension.

Still, Pumaren can chalk this up as an achievement for his boys, making the semis again after missing the bus last year for the first time since the format was used in 1994.

“I’m proud of my boys. Nobody believed that we can make it here into the Final Four. It’s still wanting, of course, but hopefully next year, we can go all the way,” he said.

The current batch will return for another shot at glory next year with a couple of new reinforcements.

Pumaren, though, chose to keep the identities of his new recruits secret. “Actually, I might play already,” he said in jest.