Archers ends this year’s UAAP run with a loss

With nothing more than their pride left at stake after being booted out of the Final Four race in their previous game, the DLSU Green Archers took the court last Sept. 11 against a squad raring to nab the third seed in the semifinals, the Far Eastern University (FEU) Tamaraws.

It was the final game of a season that saw them win only five games, eerily mirroring their record during their 2009 campaign. And for team captain Simon Atkins and hard-working big man Maui Villanueva, it also rounded out their tour of duty as bowmen from Taft Ave., which is why they labored to give a stirring end to the Archers’ season.

Atkins dropped a team-high 16 points, knocking down four triples, while fellow veterans Joshua Webb and Jovet Mendoza aided their captain, scoring 11 points apiece. Rookie Arnold Van Opstal also labored to finish with also 11 points and added two rejections.

However, in the end, their valiant effort was unable to stop the Tamaraws, as their triumvirate of 2010 Most Valuable Player (MVP) RR Garcia, Aldrech Ramos and Terrence Romeo combined to score 54 of their team’s 66 points to withstand the effort of the Green-and-White Squad, 57-66.

After wresting the lead from the Archers at the end of the third canto, the Tamaraws threatened to turn the game into a rout after a drive by Romeo, which pushed their lead to 11, 64-53 with a little over two minutes remaining in the contest, which sealed the Archers’ fate.

After leading 33-27 during the first  minutes of the match, the Archers found themselves weary since a furious comeback by the Tamaraws, anchored by seven straight points by their graduating slot man Ramos, cut their lead to a solitary point, 35-34.

Atkins then rifled in a triple and Van Opstal mucled his way inside for aother bucket which padded their lead, but Tamaraw Garcia also embarked on a run of his own to give the Morayta-based squad the upper-hand heading into the final period, 48-47.

After an 11-point first quarter, the Archers came out smoking in the second period, unloading a blistering 10-0 blast, anchored by an array of baskets from Webb that enabled the team to grab their first lead of the contest, 21-18. This was a lead which they maintined towards the end of the period up until the dying seconds of the third thanks to baskets by Mendoza, Atkins, and Van Opstal.

Aside from these four players, however, no other Archer scored more than three points. The team also yielded a 16-rebound disadvantage to the Tamaraws, while also allowing the Bert Flores-mentored quintet to grab numerous rebounds on the offensive glass.

After the final horn sounded, the sizeable Lasallian crowd who had gathered to witness the team’s final game of the season watched as Atkins and Villanueva, with tears welling from their eyes, bid the crowd goodbye with waves and kisses.