With seven teams locking horns in a chaotic race for the Final Four, the UAAP Season 88 Men’s Basketball Tournament delivered one of the most unpredictable campaigns in recent memory. When the dust settled, the DLSU Green Archers completed a dramatic redemption run, avenging last season’s Finals heartbreak against the UP Fighting Maroons to reclaim the throne—the first fourth-seeded team to do so since Season 77.
At the helm was Head Coach Topex Robinson, who not only guided the Green Archers to a championship but also laid the groundwork for the program’s future. Through injuries, suspensions, and constant roster adjustments, the Green-and-White forged a deeper bond, cultivating a next-man-up mentality that transformed adversity into the defining strength of their title push.
The architecture of resilience
Entering Season 88, the Green Archers faced a daunting reality: a roster transformed. After a two-year stretch of back-to-back Finals appearances—tasting both the peak of a championship and the sting of a runner-up finish—the team had to pivot following the departure of cornerstone players. For Robinson, the mission was not just about tactical adjustments; it was about navigating a “behind the grind” process that tested the very foundation of the basketball program. The head coach viewed the journey through a lens of shared growth, but that vision was put to the test immediately.
The challenge intensified during Round 1, with the squad losing Mason Amos and Kean Baclaan to injuries in consecutive games. For a team trying to find its footing, the blows were nearly fatal. “It’s really pretty challenging for us because Kean and Mason are a major part of our team,” Robinson admits. “Losing them consecutively really kind of shook the whole journey heading into Season 88. It kind of really broke our back.”
Despite the setback, the squad’s preliminary narrative shifted from a tragedy of what-ifs to a masterclass in collective resilience. Rather than relying on traditional locker-room motivation, Robinson leaned into a culture of shared sacrifice. In the absence of their stars, DLSU saw the emergence of players like Luis Pablo and Vhoris Marasigan, who stepped up onto the court, not for personal glory, but out of a sense of duty to their sidelined teammates.
“It’s not really motivation. When you have an environment that cares for each other, you don’t really have to motivate them. They’re inspired,” Robinson explains. The shift in rotation was not just a coaching adjustment, but a pact honored by the rest of the team. “They already know that they’re not doing it for them. They’re doing it for their fallen brothers during that time.” This period is deliberately set before La Salle’s new era. A team fueled by a culture where every player was prepared to survive the elimination grind until their brothers could return to the hardwood.
Valleys before the peak
Despite a brief surge at the beginning of Round 2, this period marked the most uncertain stretch of the Green Archers’ Season 88 campaign. Consecutive losses pushed the team into a must-win situation, where every game carried the weight of the entire season. With little margin for error, pressure mounted—not just on the scoreboard, but within the group itself. Yet for the Archers’ coach, this phase was neither unexpected nor discouraging.
“There’s no such thing as a perfect season,” Head Coach Robinson shared. “How you manage those trying times—what we call the valleys in our season—will determine our peak.” As the standings tightened and the stakes rose, the message still remained the same. Rather than fearing adversity, the Taft-based squad was encouraged to embrace it, trusting that remaining firm in their principles would carry them through the toil of the elimination round.
The steadiness surfaced most clearly during a tense late-game stretch, when emotions ran high, and every possession felt decisive. In a brief exchange caught on the sidelines, EJ Gollena quietly reminded Jacob Cortez to “play the game,” a simple line that reflected the team’s mindset in the moment. There was no urgency to force plays, no panic to chase the clock. Instead, the squad leaned into composure, relying on the ideals that had carried them thus far.
As opposed to scrambling for quick fixes as the pressure to sweep mounted, the Green Archers anchored themselves in the culture established long before the season began. “Our environment will kind of protect us from any challenging times that are going to come ahead,” the veteran coach explained. The team resisted apprehension, choosing cohesion over chaos and trust over desperation. As each must-win game passed, belief quietly replaced doubt.
The pressure to close out Round 2 with as many highs as possible did not fracture the Green-and-White; instead, it sharpened them. By the time DLSU clinched its place in the Final Four, the team had already climbed out from the valley—aligned, confident, and ready for the stakes ahead.
Championship DNA
After scraping through the Elimination Round to clinch the last Final Four berth, Head Coach Robinson emphasized that their advantage was their championship experience. Despite facing an uphill battle against the NU Bulldogs, DLSU banked on their learnings from their last two UAAP Finals and played well under pressure: “You treat the playoffs as [a] championship game, that’s where the stakes are higher. The pressure is higher,” the seasoned tactician echoed.
By defeating the Bulldogs in back-to-back games, the Green Archers’ mentor described the feeling as surreal, as they were on the brink of ending their journey early back in the Elimination Round. These victories set the stage for a trilogy against the UP Fighting Maroons in the Finals, with the teams entering the series deeply familiar with each other’s plays and tendencies. And after three grueling games, La Salle stood tall and brought the crown back to Taft.
With a historic championship run in the books, the Green-and-White tactician shows no signs of slowing down, continuing to embed himself deeper in the institution. Even during the season’s troughs, Robinson remained composed, placing full trust in the program he and his assistant coaches built, “I’m always going to be willing to take the risk knowing that I have the support of the [assistant] coaches. They’ve really played a major role in the success of this program.”
Looking ahead
As the confetti of Season 88 settles, the focus in Taft shifts toward a new horizon. For Coach Robinson, the championship is not a final destination but a marker in an ongoing process of growth. As the squad buckles up for Season 89, the Green Archers will once again navigate change, including the departure of key pieces, like Baclaan and Mike Phillips. But rather than fearing these transitions, Robinson sees them as the next phase of the program’s evolution. “Every season has its own face,” he shared. “It always brings its own challenges, its own dramas. And it’s just something that we always look forward to and get us excited.”
This unwavering optimism is rooted in the “next-man-up” culture that defined their most recent title run. Just as the Green Archers found answers when tragedies struck mid-season, Robinson is confident that the vacancy left by his departing heroes is simply an open door for the next leaders to emerge. “Somebody will step up. I just don’t know who it will be,” the coach admits. “But what I’m sure of is somebody will take that opportunity. And with that opportunity, we’ll make him better and more successful, not only as a Green Archer, but as a Lasallian.”
As the Green-and-White prepare to defend their crown, the program’s identity remains firmly anchored in grit and continuity. For Coach Robinson, Season 89 is less about protecting a title and more about embracing another demanding journey—one where the grind endures, the culture safeguards the players, and the spirit of Animo continues to shape the team’s next chapter.
This article was published in The LaSallian‘s Sports Special 2026 issue. To read more, visit bit.ly/TLSSportsSpecial2026.
