Maroons in acid test against Archers; Eagles seek bounce-back

University of the Philippines (UP) and La Salle, title favorites coming off contrasting fates, are going into a key first round clash in Season 86 of the UAAP men’s basketball tournament looking for nothing but to forget what has happened very recently.

“We’re still a work in progress,” Maroons coach Goldwin Monteverde said after a 31-point bamboozling of University of Santo Tomas over the weekend for a 5-0 card. “We still have a long way to go. And we need to work on our defense.”

Monteverde knows what he and his charges will be facing at 6 p.m. at Mall of Asia Arena on Wednesday, when they gun for a win that would move them within another victory of a first round sweep as La Salle comes into a contest still licking the wounds of an 80-77 overtime loss to National University.

The Green Archers could be awoken giants no one would want to mess with, as coach Topex Robinson has done everything to make his charges forget about the Bulldogs and focus on the Maroons.This game, without a doubt—no matter how La Salle fared in its last game—will be the biggest test for the Maroons thus far.

“Dwelling on that [loss] won’t change anything,” Robinson said after his Archers slipped to a share of third place. “What’s important is the game against UP. We’ll learn from those mistakes and move forward.”

Defending champion Ateneo, meanwhile, tries to get back on track when it clashes with woeful Santo Tomas in the 10 a.m. game, even as the Bulldogs battle University of the East at 12 noon and Far Eastern shooting for its first winning streak in tangling with Adamson at 2 p.m.

Santo Tomas is the only team in the field that hasn’t won, as problems at the slot have hounded Pido Jarencio and his staff with Adama Faye continuing to be hobbled by a bad back.

And that problem will be highlighted against the Blue Eagles, who have 6-foot-9 Joe Obasa, 6-foot-8 Mason Amos and the 6-foot-7 Kai Ballungay at the front line.

The Maroons have been dragged to the limit just one time in the young season, but a 110-79 dismantling of the toothless Tigers last Saturday flaunted the full might their roster. INQ