La Salle Ends Season with a 3pt Loss to Ateneo

After everything’s been said and done, all I have to say is it was a good run by the Archers.  For what was known as a ‘rebuilding season’, La Salle managed to crack into the Final 4 and face their archrivals and defending champs, Ateneo Blue Eagles.  During the eliminations, we lost both our games against them by 10 points.  Going into the semis, I was hoping that La Salle learned from their mistakes and that they would put up a good fight.  And they did.

From the get go, it was a really competitive fight.  Unlike our first 2 meetings against them, we did not let the Eagles storm out of the gates.  We paced with them the entire game and even mounted an 11 point lead in the second half.  It was heartbreaking to watch the lead dwindle little by little, no thanks to the heroic efforts of Ateneo’s Kiefer Ravena, who scored 16 points in the payoff period (to end the game with 28 points and 12 rebounds).  In  my opinion, La Salle made crucial mistakes and the opposing team made sure to exploit them.  La Salle had a comfortable lead when they suddenly threw 3pointers.  Of course there’s nothing wrong with that if they can drain the shots, or if those were indeed carefully selected shots.  La Salle should never have settled from long distance.  We should have tried to make high percentage shots by attacking the rim.  Joshua Webb also had a couple of bad plays which Ateneo took advantage of.  I understand that there’s no point in crying over spilled milk, but I just can’t help think about the what if’s.  There are no excuses, they won and we lost.  Congratulations to them and good luck on their Finals bout with UST.  La Salle may have made crucial mistakes but I’m still proud if what our team has accomplished this season.  Kudos to each and everyone on the team!

Jovet Mendoza and Webb are both graduating and won’t be back next year and I would like to take this opportunity to thank them for the hardwork and all their contributions to La Salle Basketball.  The core of our team will remain intact and the latter part of this season just showcased what we can bring to the table.  Our basketball season may be over for now, but the La Salle has a lot of positive things to look forward to. ANIMO LA SALLE!

Good luck to Ateneo Blue Eagles and UST Growling Tigers!

keep it green.

-fouledout

La Salle Beats FEU, Completes Final 4 Cast

(dated: September 26, 2012)

La Salle enters the UAAP Final 4 once again after defeating the FEU Tamarraws, 69-66.  The game showed a lot of heart and passion as we were down for most of the game.  In fact, the team was down until about the midway of the final quarter.  The Tamarraws were clearly in control of the game as the constantly padded their lead when it became a 2 possession game (We came within 4 points several times).  La Salle was down but clearly not out.  When Almond Vosotros drained a 3 pointer to cut the lead by 1, he also ignited an offensive salvo that would put us on top after 17 straight points.  With the lead and momentumon our side, the boys from Morayta just wouldn’t give up as they drained back to back triples courtesy of Romeo and Garcia.  With roughly 30 seconds left on the game clock (if I remember it correctly), Vosotros and Jeron Teng were sent to the line and both of them split their charities, tallying the final score of 69-66.

It was one of the greatest games of La Salle this season.  The team has the talent and skills to win games, but winning this very important game showed us that they also have the heart and mind to win big games.  La Salle will now face the defending champs, the Ateneo Blue Eagles, and that’s going to be a tough assignment.  I know for sure that we can play competetive ball against the Eagles.  The way I see things, the only edge Ateneo has over us is their experience.  As a team, they’ve been playing together for the last couple of years and it has evidently glued them together.  Norman Black’s system is deeply rooted in each and everyone of them and that’s what makes them tough to crack.

I won’t be able to watch the game live becasue of location issues, but I will definitely watch the game at home.  This is something that I would not miss.  Congratulations to DLSU Green Archers for reaching the Final 4 and good luck on your next assignment!

keep it green. ANIMO!

-fouledout

My Thoughts on La Salle Basketball

I’ve been unable to post something for quite a while now.  A lot has happened in the sportng world, but this time of the year, my interest is inclined towards college basketball specifically UAAP.  And in the past couple of weeks, a lot has happened in the league, specifically to DLSU Green Archers and i’ll try to write something about a handful of things in relation to La Salle basketball.

Beatdown from Ateneo

The game against our bitter rivals ended with a 10 point margin by the defending champs, the Blue Eagles.  La Salle might have had a fighting chance to steal that game had they played well during the first period.  We dug ourselves a 16 point hole in the first period and it proved too much for our squad to erase the deficit.  That’s a tough loss especially it was against Ateneo, but for me personally, I wasn’t really expecting La Salle to win.  I mean, of course I wanted La Salle to win, but realistically speaking, if we’re going to win against Ateneo, that’s gonna be a tough game.  As bitter as it  may taste, La Salle needs to swallow that bitter loss and learn from it.  Maturity and composure are two very important part of the game and that’s what we need.  We have the talent and skills, we just have to be more mentally prepared to battle it out, most especially against the Blue Eagles because I’m pretty sure that it carries more pressure to face your archrivals.

The Return of Almond Vosotros

Back in the first round, La Salle’s offense was heavily anchored on Jeron Teng.  Come second round, i’ve noticed that the defense of opposing teams has clamped down on Teng.  He still gets his usual points, though he’d usually shoot volumes on the floor just to convert points.  Norbert Torres’ game was also well scouted at the second round.  He’s struggling offensively for quite some time now (save for the double double performance against Adamson), and with Teng needing to bleed for his points and LA Revilla still out due to an ankle injury, who do we turn to for that much needed offensive contribution? That’s where Almond Vosotros comes in.  Coming out just like that it just so perferct in terms of timing.  Even with Revilla injured, Teng doesn’t need to exhaust himself just to put up points in the scoreboard.  Vostoros can readily pour in points whenever needed.  He can shoot the 3, he can drive and he can pass.  Now that the opponents know that this guy can score, the defense on Teng would probably relax a little bit and this will help him choose his shots wisely without having to force it.

The (Questionable) Officiating Against the Dog Pack

The game against NU Bulldogs really got me thinking about the way the referees officiated the game.  The number of fouls (and free throws) awarded to NU was just unacceptable.  The disparity was just too much to ignore.  Can you imagine Ray Parks having more free throw attempts than the entire La Salle squad?  That was just so wrong.  I’m not trying to discredit NU’s win, but the officiating that day really sucked.  I hope it never happens again to any team in the league.

2 Straight Wins to End the Elminations

To end the elimination round and have one final push before the Final 4,the Archers made sure to win their final 2 games by defeating the FEU Tamaraws and Adamson Falcons.  With those 2 wins, we ended the eliminations with a 9-5 record.  It’s good enough for a the fourth and final slot but since nothing comes by easy these days, we’ll have to wait out the result of the replay of FEU vs NU tomorrow.  The situations/scenarios leading to the Final 4 is just too complicated to explain and I would’nt dare to write about and just end up confusing the readers and myself.  The simplest option that all La Sallians should hope for is for FEU to win so that we can secure the fourth slot and get another chance to face the Ateneo in the Final 4.  Facing an Ateneo squad with a twice-to-beat advantage is a daunting task, be we Archers are not known to back down from a dog fight.  Win or lose it’s still ANIMO.  Let’s all hope for the best as we (hopefully) enter the Final 4 this season.

keep it green.

-fouledout