Archers waylay Bulldogs

By Jonas Terrado - Manila Bulletin - August 17, 2008

Defending champion La Salle thought that all it had to do to win against National University was to show up.

The Green Archers found out yesterday that it would need more than that as they had to bank on veteran guard JV Casio’s timely hits in the second half to pull off a 79-67 victory over the Bulldogs in the 71st UAAP basketball wars at the PhilSports Arena.

Casio exploded for 15 points in the final 20 minutes of play, including nine in the third quarter that helped lift La Salle to a 48-46 lead, 4:17 remaining in the third frame.

"The players probably thought that with NU’s record, they (Bulldogs) will just give the game to us," said La Salle coach Franz Pumaren, who had earlier watched in dismay as the Bulldogs raced to a 36-21 advantage in the second quarter.

"That’s the reason why the players played aggressively in the second quarter," said Pumaren.
The win boosted La Salle’s win-loss mark to 8-2, just half a game behind league-leading Ateneo, while the loss dropped NU to 2-8.

After Casio’s scoring spree, the Archers zoomed to a 76-61 lead behind Hyram Bagatsing and James Mangahas, who each made a triple, and Indonesian center Ferdinand, who rattled the rim off LA Revilla’s pass.

Casio led all scorers with 22 markers, while Peejay Barua drilled in 14, including 11 in the first half. Revilla chipped in eight and four feeds off the bench.

Edwin Asoro led the Bulldogs with 19 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, and three steals, while Raymund Aguilar and Jonathan Jahnke chipping 11 and 10 points, respectively.

In the second game, University of the East (UE) crushed University of the Philippines, 95-65, for the Red Warriors’ first back-to-back victories since winning their first two games of the season.

Marcy Arellano starred for UE with 23 points, 21 of which coming in the first half alone, while adding five rebounds and six assists in 23 minutes in his best game of the season.

"First time this season maganda ang laro ni Marcy," said UE head coach Dindo Pumaren. "Sana tuloy tuloy na siya, he played good defense at same time ‘yung offense niya dumating, he’s struggling the whole first round, may mga spurts lang siya but maganda nilaro niya."

Toto Bandaying and Pari Llagas made 11 points apiece while Hans Thiele finished with 10 points and six rebounds.

UE started with a 15-2 lead before grabbing a commanding 48-30 lead at the half. The Warriors then led by 30 or more points on several occasions during the late stretches of the match to seal the win.

The win enabled the Warriors to gain a 1 ½ game lead over University of Santo Tomas for the last spot in the Final Four.

"Basta kami we’re not concerned dun sa likod namin yung sa taas ang hinahabol namin," said Pumaren.

Paul Sorongon and Jay Agbayani led State U with 17 points each as UP fell further in the cellar with a 2-8 record to tie National University.

UE’s win was their fourth straight against UP, all by a combined margin of 130 points.

NU started off strong by scoring the game’s first nine points and eventually grabbed an 11-2 lead.

But the Green Archers outscored them, 15-5, to take the lead only for the Sampaloc-based cagers to unleash a 20-4 blast for a commanding 36-21 edge off baskets by Asoro and Jonathan Jahnke.

"I told them at halftime that we were running away from what we were supposed to do.," said Pumaren, who will miss the last three games of the season due to his coaching commitments with the Philippine team in the FIBA-Asia Youth Championships in Tehran, Iran.

"Like what I’m stressing to my players, we’re only good when we play within the system," added Pumaren.

In the second game, University of the East (UE) crushed University of the Philippines, 95-65, for the Red Warriors’ first back-to-back victories since winning their first two games of the season.