Archers exact swift revenge on Warriors

La Salle showed its ability to recover from a devastating loss by beating University of the East yesterday, 70-61, in the 71st UAAP season at the Araneta Coliseum.

It was just five days ago when the Green Archers lost to the Warriors in an emotional game at the Big Dome. That loss snapped La Salle’s five-game winning streak.

Also in that game, four La Salle players limped out of the court. Simon Atkins was hospitalized after a very bad fall while Marco Batricevic suffered an ACL on his right knee.

Rico Maierhofer and James Mangahas also got hurt last Saturday but were back in harness yesterday as La Salle improved to 6-2, good for solo second.

“It’s a very good sign on our part that we were able to regroup and bounce back. It was a great effort on the part of my players,” said coach Franz Pumaren.

“It’s hard for college kids like them to see their teammates get hurt like that,” he said of Atkins, who should be back soon, and Batricevic, out for the rest of the season.

“Simon wanted to play but the doctors advised him to rest. He’s still having some dizzy spells. To us what’s important is his health. We won’t risk his health.”

The Warriors got off to a poor start, the moment James Martinez came in wearing the wrong pair of shorts, and was fielded only in the second quarter when he got the right one.

Earlier, spitfire Jonathan Jahnke matched his career-high 21 points as National University posted its first back-to-back win in five years by beating host UP, 72-59.

“This is my first time to win back-to-back games for NU,” said Jahnke who hit 21 points during the game that followed the Bulldogs’ stunning win over FEU last Sunday.

The last time the Bulldogs won two straight games was in 2003 when it scored successive wins over the highly favored Ateneo and La Salle. Jahnke was not yet with the team then.

“Naka-tsamba na naman (Another fluke),” Jahnke said in jest. He said the Falcons found new blood in business tycoon Henry Sy of Shoe Mart, who is the new owner of the school.

“Now we’re enjoying more of what we lacked before – like allowances. We have a new practice venue, too, at the Mall of Asia. At least we’re giving our new boss something in return,” he said.