Red Warriors won’t lay down arms

Philippine Star
Sunday, October 7, 2007

Forget the loss and think of the next game.

That’s what University of the East coach Dindo Pumaren has been telling his fallen Warriors now that their 14-game sweep of the eliminations are now in the dustbin and the La Salle Archers threatening to steal the 2007 UAAP crown.

“I said forget about Game One and I repeatedly emphasized there’s still a chance for us to get back in the series and we could still do it,” said Pumaren, confident they could force a sudden-death in the short title series.

The Warriors are out to get even while the Archers are going for the kill in Game Two of their title showdown at 3 p.m. at the Araneta Coliseum today.

But to even things up and send the series into a winner-take-all affair, the Warriors must cut down on their errors, play as a team the way they used to in the elims and never underestimate the Archers.

“I’ve told the players in practice that we committed a lot of turnovers and blew two chances to win in the last 14 seconds,” Pumaren said.

Pumaren noted that his players fell into a false sense of security, believing they could beat the Archers easily following their sweep of their rivals in the elims, including a 20-point rout in the first round.

Later did they realize that the championship is an entirely different thing.

“I noticed my players were eager to beat La Salle the easy way, by blowing them out,” said Pumaren. “But I told them we couldn’t do it that way because La Salle wouldn’t be in the finals if they’re not good. They also happen to have the most experienced guards in the league.”

The Warriors’ over-eagerness led to their season worst 31 turnovers. The Archers produced 25 points off those errors.

“Imagine if we minimized those errors. One or two less turnovers could have meant a win for us instead,” said Pumaren.

Despite the setback, Pumaren, however, said the Warriors remain upbeat on their chance.

“I let the players talk after the game and they voiced out their feelings. They seemed confident because they vowed to go all out in Game 2,” said Pumaren.

A decider, if necessary, is set Wednesday.

The Warriors’ lack of championship poise was evident in the series opener.

The Warriors last made it to the finals 17 years ago during the days of the high-leaping Bong Ravena, now one of Pumaren’s assistant coaches.

UE has actually made it to the championship round only twice since winning its 18th and last crown in 1985 on a team built around Allan Caidic and Jerry Codiñera.

La Salle, in contrast, has had eight finals appearances in the last decade that netted four titles, excluding the 2004 crown which the team voluntarily surrendered for upon knowing it had fielded two ineligible players.

“We know they’re the more experienced team. We also know we can beat them if we’ll just do what we did when we went 14-0,” said Dindo Pumaren.