INQUIRER Sports

MANILA, Philippines -- The University of the East stars finally came through to turn back a distracted and depleted La Salle lineup for a 68-62 victory that ended a slump in the 71st UAAP men's basketball competition Saturday at the Araneta Coliseum.

Between the hot shooting of James Martinez and Paul Zamar and the inside moves of Hans Thiele and Pari Llagas, the Warriors regained their intimidating form to spoil the defending champion Archers' bid for the solo lead.

"One factor was our aggressiveness," said coach Dindo Pumaren after his Warriors snapped the five-game winning run of his older brother Franz's Archers.

"We pressured La Salle and took out their half-court game. One factor also was the injuries [that hit the Archers]. But I'm so proud of the boys, everything that we talked about came out in this game."

The Archers, who dropped to third place at 5-2, clearly lost their focus after freak accidents immediately downed three La Salle starters in the first half.

Martinez rebounded from a scoreless outing by knocking down 15 of his 19 points from beyond the arc to put the Warriors ahead by as many as 16 points, 62-46, at the end of the third quarter.

Zamar also stepped up in key stretches to finish 12 markers in just 15 minutes of action for the Warriors, who grabbed solo fourth at 4-3.

"We had a roller-coaster first round, but I think this is our best game, we showed the Warriors' real game," said Dindo.

Both squads had hardly warmed up when sophomore guard Simon Atkins was rushed to St. Luke's Hospital after hitting his head hard on the floor.

Team officials said that Atkins, who was taken out of the playing court in a stretcher, remained under observation even after a CT scan and neurology tests showed "normal [results] as of now."

La Salle representative Bro. Bernie Oca said doctors described it as a "whiplash injury," but said Atkins will remain in the hospital.

"He's now better, he has no headache," said Oca of Atkins, who reportedly had "blurred vision" after the fall.

The incident, which occurred with both teams still scoreless at the 8:15 mark of the first quarter, stalled the game for almost five minutes.

Less two minutes later, center Marko Batricevic, who just recovered from an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury, slipped and sat out the rest of the game after twisting his right knee.

Forward James Mangahas also got sidelined late in the first half after spraining his left ankle.

Late in the fourth period, Rico Maierhofer also suffered from a bummed left knee.

The Archers, though, still put up a fight in the fourth quarter that pushed them within six points, 68-62, with 2:13 minutes left.

But the Warriors held on with key defensive stops even after committing two turnovers of their own in the closing minutes.

The Warriors proved too much to handle for the Archers with guards Martinez, who came off the bench for the first time, Zamar, and Paul Lee waxing hot early.

In one stretch, the Warriors scored 15 of their 17 points from three-point range to turn a 16-14 lead to a 30-22 advantage in the second quarter.

The scores:

UE 68 -- Martinez 19, Zamar 12, Thiele 11, Lee 7, Llagas 6, Reyes 4, Espiritu 4, Lingganay 3, Arellano 2, Noble 0, Etrone 0.

LA SALLE 62 -- Mangahas 14, Revilla 10, Casio 9, Villanueva 8, Barua 6, Bagatsing 4, Batricevic 3, Maierhofer 3, Walsham 2, Malabes 2, Webb 1, Atkins 0.

Quarters: 19-15, 39-31, 62-46, 68-62