Archers: Towards a successful championship bid

In what would have been a continuous slide to the cellar, the De La Salle Green Archers emerged from their three game losing streak with back-to-back tough victories, locking them in at fourth in the standings, sporting a 4-3 win-loss record.

Entering the first round of the 75th UAAP Season, the Archers had made a couple of changes as evidenced by the team’s game against the UP Fighting Maroons.

 

The Green-and-White squad capitalized on the crunch time heroics of rookie Jeron Teng who he towed the team to a 73-68 win.

 

The Archers are now at a two-game winning streak as they stymied the UE Red Warriors’ comeback attempt in their second game with a 67-59 victory to take the lead in the standings with a 2-0 record—La Salle’s best start since the 2007 championship season.

 

A tougher road eventually tested the hearts of the Archers as they battled the FEU Tamaraws in a highly physical and low-score match.

 

The absence of Team Captain L.A. Revilla, eventually affected the Archers during crunch time; the squad accepted a painful, 46-48 defeat. The team also suffered another setback in their game against archrival Ateneo.

 

The Taft-based squad had the chance to make a monumental comeback after Jed Manguera banged in a triple to trim the Blue Eagle advantage to 64-60, but costly turnovers resulted to a 61-71 loss.

 

As if the defeat against the Katipunan rivals was not enough, free throw woes doomed La Salle as the team fell to UST in a heartbreaking, 84-82 double overtime defeat, leading to an ominous three game skid.

 

With another chance for redemption, the Archers finally snapped their three-game skid, despite an anemic foul line shooting, beating the Adamson Soaring Falcons.

 

They ended the first round with a thrilling 87-86 double overtime victory over the National University Bulldogs to give them their current 4-3 record.

 

Adjusting to the new system 

Throughout the first round, the Archers averaged 67.4 points per game with their newly installed system which puts emphasis on teamwork, interior scoring, crisp passing and timely cuts to the basket.

 

Aside from the technical aspects of the game, Head Coach Gee Abanilla places high regard for unity and character.“We always tell the team, this is our team; this is our family.”

Highly touted rookie Jeron Teng has consistently contributed to the Green-and-White with an average of 16.7 points on 45.9 percent shooting and 7.4 rebounds and has thrived in the new system.

 

In wins, the rookie has averaged 20.3 points, capped off by a 35 point explosion against NU. Teng’s performance was the first 30 point scoring effort by an Archer over the past nine years.

 

His never-say-die attitude and intensity have rubbed off on his teammates and he has succeeded in supporting the senior members of the team.

 

Veteran savvy 

Hampered by a chronic ankle injury throughout the first round, Team Captain LA Revilla has continued to play through pain, averaging 10.7 points, 4.7 rebounds and 3.8 assists in six outings.

 

With his remarkable on-court IQ and fighting spirit, the San Beda alumnus has made a huge impact on the team and he has never failed to deliver.

 

Meanwhile, down low on the block, the duo of Filipino-Canadian Norbert Torres and Yutien Andrada is slowly emerging as one of the most potent interior tandems in the league.

 

Andrada and Torres have developed an on-court chemistry on both sides of the court and have given opponents trouble over the first seven games.

 

On offense, they often find each other under the basket, challenging multiple defenders for easy points. The Bear, as Torres is called, has averaged 9 points, 9.9 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per outing while Andrada has a per game clip of 6.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 1.9 blocks.

 

On defense, they often cover each other with switches and timely double teams while clogging the paint to suffocate opposing players.Their presence in the post has become a welcome development for a team known to be guard-oriented.

 

Andrada and Torres are ranked third and fourth respectively in the blocks department and both are also in the top ten in the league for rebounds. Their vast improvement on the court could be attributed to alumnus Jun Limpot, the Archers’ new big man coach who demands respect from the players, owing to his stellar 14-year PBA career after a dominant college stint.

 

Young guns clicking  

Aside from Teng, rookies Mac Tallo and Thomas Torres have also made significant contributions to the Archers.

 

When asked about players who exceeded expectations, the Archers’ mentor mentioned the two guards. He said, “Guys also stepped up like Thomas Torres on a consistent basis and a lot of the rookies like Mac Mac Tallo provided us with some breather during the first round.”

 

Their statistics do not tell their entire story as they have made their presence felt through intangibles that do not always show up on the box score.

 

Torres, averaging 10.7 minutes per game, is a product of La Salle Greenhills and has ably stepped in for Revilla when the skipper’s ankle limits him on the court. In his first career start against the Bulldogs, the young guard finished with a balanced line of five points, three rebounds, two assists and three steals.

 

On the other hand, Tallo, the former MVP from Cebu, has averaged 11.3 minutes per game and had his finest hour against Adamson, shooting a perfect three-for-three from the field, good for 7 points–all in the first half. The combo guard also added two rebounds, an assist and a block. He has slowly adjusted to the senior level after struggling in the early games of the season.

 

Emerging as a key part of the rotation, the two have shown poise and maturity well ahead of their years. The two young guards have established themselves as fixtures in the rotation and have become excellent complements to the veteran core.

 

Slowly coming together 

Coach Gee Abanilla has his team sharing the ball on offense and working hard on defense, a lethal combination in the world of basketball. The Archers have just allowed 66.9 points per game, good for third in the league behind last year’s finalists Ateneo and FEU.

 

“We have to really play as a team on and off the court and I just hope that the guys who are part of the rotation and the guys who expect to be fielded in must be ready all the time.” remarked Abanilla.

The team’s bench ranks second in the league in points per game at 23.9, providing ample support to the starters in the minutes given to them.

 

To go along with the newly installed offense, the rookie coach also occasionally employs the full court press defense, long a trademark of La Salle basketball. With this pressure defense, the team has averaged a second-best five steals per game.

 

Its surprising success over spurts of the game brings back memories of the glory days when the Archers would obliterate passing lanes and blitz through the court for easy baskets en route to numerous championships.

 

“We are in the middle of the pack, we are within striking distance of the front runners, and I think after all the games that we had, our record does not really reflect the true game that we played. So I think that we are slowly progressing as a team, and we’re very satisfied.” remarked the former PBA fourth round pick.

 

The Archers have revitalized a dormant fan base and have excited the community with their play. Expectations should be tempered though as there are rooms for improvement and growth.

 

A perennial Achilles’ Heel

La Salle has not averaged at least 60 percent from the free throw line since 2008, the last year of the JV Casio era and coincidentally, their last finals trip.

 

Averaging 58.4 percent over the past three years, it has been a major weakness for the Archers, causing countless losses. This season, despite much improved play on the court, the Archers have failed to improve on this department, averaging an atrocious 55.6 percent from the charity stripe.

 

The team has exceeded the 60 percent barrier only thrice this season with a high of 75 percent against Ateneo. Losses to FEU and especially UST, where they flubbed several charities down the stretch, could have been prevented by more accurate free throw shooting.

 

 Challenges await

The looming second round will be the true challenge for this upstart La Salle squad.

 

It is the fourth straight season that the Archers have ended the first round with a 4-3 record, two of which led to dismal sixth place finishes.

 

“Our goal is to have a better record than the first round. We will be preparing really hard for every game,” said Abanilla.

 

He also added “I think that is one of the assets of this team, we come to a game really well prepared, and we know what to do and we plan to do the same thing. If we could exceed our performance, the 4-3 record, we will be really, really happy about that.”

 

We have seen many teams crumble after promising starts yet one is urged to believe that this squad, with a deep rotation and a willingness to sacrifice, has the qualities of a winner.

 

The Green-and-White team has definitely come to fight this season and they have put the entire league on notice for the second round.