La Salle recaptures UAAP crown

By: Rey Joble
People's Journal
October 8, 2007

Torn between ambition and compassion, La Salle coach Franz Pumaren knows so well how to handle the situation.

In the end, call of duty prevailed over family rivalry.

Playing with the intensity and character of champions, the Archers used their vast experience to the hilt to hammer out a 73-64 triumph en route to their sixth UAAP championship in nine years last night at the jampacked Araneta Coliseum.

Never mind if the feat was overshadowed by Manny Pacquiao’s smashing triumph over Mexican legend Marco Antonio Barrera that kept the entire nation glued to their television sets.

For Pumaren, this win is so sweet that he and his bunch of overachieving Archers accomplished something truly special it simply washed away the pain of the suspension they got a year ago.

“This is so sweet. I’ve never felt this thing since the last time we won a championship,” said the elder Pumaren.

“But this is also sweeter as I was able to do it against my brother. If only I can give half of the championship to him and the UE Warriors, then I will do it. He has earned my respect. He has done a great job. UE, as a team, also did a great job throughout the season, but I guess our experience proved to be the deciding factor in this series.”

It was the sixth title for Pumaren since taking over as coach of the Archers in 1998.

He led the team to a rare “four-peat” from 1998-2001 then won the crown again in 2004 against the Arwind Santos-powered Far Eastern University.

This season, the Archers made the feat more memorable as they did it in a historic year when the Warriors just accomplished a perfect record in the elims, 14-0.

That perfect record wasn’t enough though to make the Warriors No.1 as they were denied not only a perfect season, but also a title in their first try since 1990.

Behind Cholo Villanueva and Rico Maeirhofer, the Archers posted a sizeable 30-16 lead that forced the Warriors to scramble back into the game

The Warriors did manage to come back several times, but they couldn’t hit their stride, especially down the stretch.

The endgame is what La Salle does best and proved it once again.

With the Warriors threatening for the last time after Mark Borboran’s triple shoved UE to within 51-52, JV Casio hit back with his own version of trey while Villanueva and Tang each scored a basket and the Archers took a 61-55 advantage with still 5:21 left.

Paul Lee’s four straight points enabled UE to threaten for the last time, Casio scored on a tough jumper that beat the 24-shot clock and the Archers began to celebrate as they led 66-59 with only 51.1 seconds to go.

The scores:
La Salle (73) -- Casio 17, Villanueva 14, Maierhofer 11, Tang 8, Co 6, Barua 6, Malabes 5, Cua 2, Mangahas 2, Walsham 2, Atkins 0, Ferdinand 0.
UE (64) -- Borboran 12, Lee 12, Gregorio 11, Cañizares 8, Martinez 8, Arellano 5, Espiritu 5, Fampulme 3, Lingganay 0, Bandaying 0, Llagas 0, Thiele 0.
Quarterscores: 15-11; 34-23; 52-45; 73-64