In 2009, NCAA Juniors standouts Almond Vosotros and Jarelan “Oda” Tampus moved to the UAAP as De La Salle’s prized recruits.
Vosotros played during the Sebastian Golden Staglets’ historic fourth straight NCAA Juniors championship in 2008, while Tampus took home the NCAA Rookie of the Year award under the Letran Squires in the same year.
Today, both don Green-and-White jerseys, and the two high school rivals now only look at one foe, the Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles.
La Salle-Ateneo matches have always been popular for a good reason. The games are intense and packed with pressure where people simply cannot help but be involved because though the two teams have strengths and good qualities, at the end of the day, only one gets to brag about the win.
Almond Vosotros: Relishing another battle
Before the game started, I was thinking of getting even; we lost last time, but we knew that we had a chance of winning against Ateneo. Still, we failed to learn from our previous game against the team. We started slow, and they managed to capitalize on our errors.
Still, we knew that we could bounce back and steal the game from their hands. I did not expect that I would make most of my threes in the second quarter.
Those shots helped narrow the Eagles’ lead to six at the half. I did all I could to help the team. Unfortunately, it was not enough for us to win. Even if I scored my first 20-point game in the UAAP, I was not pleased because we lost.
I find it useless. It’s always better if the team wins since it is the most important
thing for the players. Nonetheless, I still look forward to playing against the Eagles again this season. If ever that happens, we have to do what it takes to beat them.
We’ll have to do better than what we did in our past two encounters.
Oda Tampus: A much-deserved break
I felt happy I got to play against Ateneo since I have not seen action for such a long time. I respect the coaching staff’s decision in postponing my play they had a plan, and I just have to accept what they have in store for me.
Actually, I did not even think that I would play in the game. I saw myself sitting at the bench, cheering for the team before the game started.
In my observation, the team lacked effort in beating Ateneo. For one thing, it was hard to assert dominance in rebounding if your opponent has a seven-footer like Greg Slaughter.
To be fair though, we did all we could, but we know that we have to do more to win against Ateneo. Despite losing twice to the Eagles this year, I am still optimistic that we will emerge as the winners in our next encounter.
Almond Vosotros recorded 20 points, seven rebounds and three assists while teammate Jarelan Tampus had eight points from a perfect 4/4 FG shooting that went alongside a rebound and an assist against the Blue Eagles last September 1 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
