Archers scrape past Falcons

Back in UAAP Final after three years

MANILA, Philippines – It was far from the mean machine that steamrolled the opposition in the eliminations but “horrible” and all, top seed La Salle still got the job done.

The Green Archers fended off the challenge of fourth-ranked Adamson, 69-64, to advance to the finals of the UAAP LXXIX men’s basketball tournament yesterday at the MOA Arena.

But coach Aldin Ayo had no reason to celebrate DLSU’s finals return after a three-year absence, ruing his wards’ unexpectedly un-La Salle showing this deep in the tourney.

“We didn’t play our game. I’m actually hesitant to congratulate them because that was a horrible game for us. It’s very unfortunate na mangyari ito dito sa (that this happened in the) Final Four,” a visibly frustrated Ayo said during the post-match presscon.

The Archers seized control only in the later part of the fourth quarter, riding on Jeron Teng’s torrid endgame and gaining some breaks from the Falcons’ missed three-point chances down the stretch.

“Siguro natalo lang namin sila sa dasal. We really prayed hard. Ilang chances ang minintis nila sa closing (How many missed chances did Adamson have)? Binigay lang sa amin pero hindi namin kinuha, hindi namin pinag-pursigihan (We didn’t work for this win, it was handed to us),” said Ayo.

He took extra note of the 26 turnovers the Archers committed in the game compared to the meager three assists they dished out all game long.

He did give credit to the Falcons for playing “excellent defense” and making life doubly hard for his wards to cross the midcourt and execute their playpatterns.

Ayo stressed this has to change when they face either No. 2 Ateneo or defending champion Far Eastern in the best-of-three title series.?“I want my team to wake up. Pasok na kami sa finals (We’re already in the finals) and we can’t play like this,” said Ayo.

Teng finished with a game-high 25 points, doing the most damage in the fourth where he dropped 11 markers and helped DLSU take a 65-60 cushion and later sealed the deal with a crucial jumper and a pair of charities. He, however, had seven errors.

Ben Mbala produced another double-double of 21 points and 16 rebounds while adding four shot blocks.

Sean Manganti (13), Rob Manalang (12) and Papi Sarr (11) led the way for AdU, which had its first Final Four appearance in five years.