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Friday, October 5, 2007

Archers a win away

By: Rey Joble
People's Journal
October 5, 2007

Game Sunday
Araneta Coliseum
3 p.m. La Salle vs. UE

Forget about a perfect season for University of the East. Forget about how the Warriors pummeled the Archers off the boards. Forget about the much-hyped sibling rivalry.

La Salle has just inflicted the first ever loss of UE in this year’s UAAP.

UE, a team which played basketball to perfection in the eliminations, received a neat lesson in championship basketball yesterday. La Salle showed its rival how to handle a game of this magnitude, pulling off a gripping 64-63 win in Game One of the best-of-three finals at the jampacked Araneta Coliseum.

The Warriors, unscathed after 14 games, played a horrible game in the most important stretch of the season.

They were forced to commit 31 turnovers, their worst this season, and their lowest output of the year 63 points by an underdog Archers crew which dictated the tempo and played as if there’s nothing to lose.

Now the Archers are a win away from getting the job done and are close to completing a stunning finals victory over the highly-favored Warriors of Dindo Pumaren.

Playing in his first finals appearance as coach, the younger Pumaren was welcomed by his elder brother, who is rich in championship experience and a winning tradition to keep.

UE’s game plan was to pound it down low against La Salle. But the Archers countered by taking the rhythm out of the Warriors, who turned the ball over so many times that led to their downfall.

For Franz, La Salle’s mission is not yet over. “We’re only half the job done, we still need one more win and UE is capable of winning as many games as possible,” said the elder Pumaren, who is seeking his sixth championship as coach of the Archers.

Their sixth championship in nine years now looming in the horizon, Franz is more cautious of a UE comeback and refused to entertain thoughts of a possible big celebration.

“It’s not over yet,” said Franz. “We expect them to come out stringer. We just have to be ready this Sunday. For us, two is better than 14.”

In a game of spurts, the Archers played more composed. The Warriors were more careless. TY Tang delivered down the stretch for the Archers, drilling in nine straight points to sandwich a series of baskets traded by both teams.

Tang was hitting the lights out until the spotlight focused on Mark Borboran and Rico Maierhofer in the last few crucial plays that decided the outcome.

Down by three, Borboran hit a game-tying triple to make it 63-all.

In the next play, Maierhofer beat three UE players off the board and was fouled by Borboran. He split his charities to give the Archers a shaky 64-63 lead with still 14 seconds to play.

The scores:
La Salle (64) -- Tang 17, Casio 12, Villanueva 11, Maierhofer 7, Ferdinand 5, Barua 3, Walsham 3, Atkins 2, Cua 2, Mangahas 2, Malabes 0, Co 0.
UE (63) -- Borboran 13, Martinez 11, Arellano 10, Thiele 7, Fampulme 6, Lee 3, Lingganay 3, Bandaying 2, Cañizares 2, Espiritu 2, Gregorio 2, Llagas 2.
Quarterscores: 14-20; 37-39; 47-50; 64-63

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