LSAL Preview: Guess who’s back?

Once again, the biggest and most competitive basketball tournament of the year in DLSU is back to conquer the grounds of the Enrique Razon Sports Complex as Lasallians have the chance once again to showcase their talent in the favorite sport of almost every Filipino, basketball. After changing the format of the tournament a year ago, shifting from a “one-team-per-college-batch” to the “make your own team” system, the La Salle Athletic League (LSAL) comes back bigger and better than ever in 2013. It has now opened its doors to 76 teams all-in-all, with a few marquee players making a comeback and an exciting crop of rookies making a debut.

Ameen Sardouk, named last season’s Most Valuable Player, will be making a comeback after averaging 22 points per game, but he will be joining a different squad led by Derrence Lam, who led the “St. Jude” team to second place last season. Last year’s Finals MVP will also be making his return to the court as former Green Archer Martin Reyes will be playing for the “Baroney” team this season. He will be joined by fellow former-Green Archer and De La Salle Zobel (DLSZ) graduate Jed Manguera.

Moreover, several players from the Green Archers’ Team B program will be making an appearance in this year’s league as well, much to the surprise of the rest of the field. Two imports from the development team will be suiting up in the annual league as Cameroonian center Ben Mbala and the athletic Abu Tratter will be teaming up to form the most dynamic and athletic frontcourt in the league. Mbala and Tratter will be strutting their wares for the “Monstars” team, appropriately coined from the team of hulking basketball-playing aliens from the “Looney Tunes” movie who battled Michael Jordan for the planet Earth. In addition, the likes of Axel Torres, Terrence Mustre, Julian Sargent and many more will each lead their respective teams in search of the championship in this year’s tournament.

Besides the big names known to most in the local basketball scene, several hoopsters who made a name during their high school days will also be making an appearance. Former varsity players such as Roland Galang, Marco Yulo, Luigi Pumaren, Geo Novales, Miggy Reyes, and Christian Escalante all suited up for La Salle Green Hills (LSGH) in the NCAA back in their high school days. Meanwhile, their southern counterparts from DLSZ, such as Louis Fortuna, Kiko Velhagen and Jonathan Calugcug, will headline the list of former Junior Archers who will be making an appearance in this season’s battle for gold.

Dubbed “The duo of the Kevins”, Kevin Lim and Kevin Patco, who both hail from Tiong Lian power Xavier School, will be teaming up once again this season for the “Livestrong” team. Arwind Vullafuerte, Miggy Lim, Matt Pasia, and Angelo Calma are amongst the other former varsity players who will lace up their sneakers for the LSAL tiff.

“Last year’s defending champions, the ‘Bang Bros’, have regrouped to form a new team dubbed “Dejavu”, because most of the members of the team have already graduated. These players and teams brought their games last year and made LSAL very exciting,” shares LSAL commissioner Benedict Lopez.

He then adds, “Though we cannot disregard the other teams in LSAL, we are excited this year because several teams that we know that have potential are under the radar.”

This will be a great season again for fellow Lasallians to face each other in a competitive manner for pride and glory, and to show their Animo amongst one another. It will definitely be a very interesting season, especially when the big names begin to go up against each other in the playoff rounds. The league is slated to begin early in the second term of this school year, and will run up until the latter part of this year’s third term.

This is where the true Lasallian talent will be seen and unearthed. Let us all get ready and be amazed once again by the prowess of everyday Lasallians on the basketball court. Animo La Salle!