FilOil: Green Archers aim for second win against young UP lineup

The DLSU Green Archers will try to snatch their second win in the FilOil Flying-V Hanes Tournament against the UP Fighting Maroons on May 8, 5pm at the San Juan Arena.

Rising stars

In their last appearance last Wednesday, the Green Archers cruised to a 90-69 victory against the LPU Pirates, as DLSU’s guards lit up the floor with twelve three-point field goals. Andrei Caracut once again led DLSU’s scorers with fifteen markers and now averages 18.5 points per outing.

Jeron Teng, La Salle’s main offensive threat, struggled from the field, but rookies Joshua Torralba and Jollo Go picked up the slack with 13 and 11 points respectively. Sophomore sluggers Abu Tratter and Prince Rivero, on the other hand, each added 10 points of their own.

In the Pirates’ side, big-man Jean Nguidjol registered 16 points and seven rebounds in LPU’s losing effort against DLSU.

Big struggles

In two meetings last UAAP season, the Green Archers won both match-ups against the Diliman-based squad. They trounced the Maroons, 74-53, in their first round meeting behind Jeron Teng’s 25-point, 11-rebound performance.

It wasn’t much different in the second game, which ended in a lopsided 86-65 result in favor of DLSU, this time led by the former Archer Almond Vosotros’ 21 markers.

The Fighting Maroons are notably struggling in the past UAAP seasons, only winning once on a 16-game stretch. Their only victory came against the Adamson Soaring Falcons last season after tying their season match-up to one game apiece. With their court general Mikee Reyes graduating, UP’s future now relies on top scorers JR Gallarza and former Rookie of the Year Kyles Lao.

Notable veterans such as Thomas Torres, Arnold Van Opstal, and Julian Sargent have sat out games in order to decompress DLSU’s star-studded rotation. Head Coach Juno Sauler has only a few months left to cut his team to a 13-man roster for the upcoming UAAP season.

With his rookies’ stellar performances, it will be an extremely difficult job to decide which players to field in during the UAAP season, which is DLSU’s mother league. The next game against the UP Fighting Maroons will be another test for Coach Sauler’s youngsters to prove themselves worthy to be named in the team’s final cut.