All it took was one win, and the Green Archers has bridged its way back to the Final Four. DLSU’s Green Archers grabs the last Final Four spot with a 69-66 victory, after a thriller game with the FEU Tamaraws on September 26 at the Mall of Asia Arena.
“We just refused to lose. FEU tried to pull away, but we just hung tough,” says Green Archers Head Coach Gee Abanilla after the match.
Norbert Torres got back into his groove to lead the Archers with 21 markers and 13 boards. Jeron Teng, who recently sealed the deal for the Rookie of the Year honors, supported well with 15 points of his own.
One big final surge
Trailing in paints during most parts of the match, the Taft-based squad managed to burst a 17-0 run in the final period to take a seven point lead with 38 seconds left.
“It all boiled down to defense. The fourth quarter was really crucial for us,” Abanilla adds.
N. Torres scored his 11 points in the final quarter to spearhead the big comeback of the Archers.
“I just wanted to do what the coaches wanted me to do. They saw it in me the whole season and they trusted me in this game,” said big man Torres who came out for his best game of the season.
FEU did not surrender the slot easily to La Salle, as they cut the Archers’ seven point lead to a solitary point in just eight seconds, through triples from Garcia and Romeo.
Time was not on the Tamaraws’ side, as it was forced to foul Teng and Almond Vosotros in the final sequences of the game. Both Archers split their trips to the line to seal the deal for the Archers.
Bigger challenge on the line
Now at the number four spot, the Archers’ is up to face top seed rivals ADMU Blue Eagle this Saturday, September 29, at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum. The Green and White squad needs to pull off two thrillers for a finals berth, as a single loss will send them out of the line.
The Archers is Saturday’s underdog, as historically, no fourth seed team has ever won against a top seed team since the Final Four format was introduced. In addition, the Abanilla-mentored squad has also failed to beat its rivals during this season’s two elimination matches, falling behind by 10 points in both encounters.
Despite these slim chances, the Archers is still excited to duke it out in the much anticipated sequel to the Ateneo-La Salle rivalry.
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4 replies on “Green Archers back to the Final Four, drops Tamaraws”
Si Garcia at si Romeo ang nakashoot ng 2 3-pointer within 8 seconds.
“FEU did not surrender the slot easily to La Salle, as they cut the Archers’ seven point lead to a solitary point in just eight seconds, through triples from Garcia and Tolomia.”
excellent writing…the science of precis! one sentence paragraphs! animo!
*”the Archers ARE…”
“Archers” is being referred to as a team in this article, hence perceived as singular.