Archers keep bid for Sweet 16

MANILA, Philippines - La Salle shut down Mapua in the last four minutes to fashion out a come-from-behind 56-51 victory yesterday and keep its Sweet 16 hopes alive in the Metro Manila qualifying round of the Philippine Collegiate Champions League at The Arena in San Juan City.

Luigi dela Paz led the Archers with 11 points while Almond Vosotros and Joshua Webb chipped in 10 points apiece while Philip Paredes added eight markers, the last two off an assist by Jarelan Tampus that gave the Archers the lead for good.

“We have less than a week to prepare and we have only 11 players to work on,” said new La Salle mentor Gee Abanilla, who opted to sit on the sidelines and give the coaching chores to assistant Tyrone Bautista.

“We’re actually using this tournament as an assessment period, we hope to build on this win,” said Abanilla.

Jong Uichico, La Salle’s consultant, however, was more blunt on his assessment of the re-building Archers.

“Not so good,” said Uichico.

The Archers seek to qualify for the Sweet 16 starting on Nov. 19 with a victory over the Centro-Escolar U Scorpions, the men’s National Collegiate Athletic Association champions, at resumption of the elims today.

The Scorpions earlier downed the St. Francis of Assisi Doves, 68-50.

The other knockout match today pits the National U Bulldos, who trounced the Lyceum Pirates, 84-74, Tuesday, and the University of Manila Hawks, who hurdled the TIP Engineers, 78-69.

It was a sorry loss for the Cardinals, who dominated the first half with a solid interior defense and even led at 28-23 at the break.

But the Archers, who lost Jovit Mendoza in the first half due to a pair of flagrant fouls, re-grouped at resumption of the contest, hitting their outside shots to offset Mapua’s zone defense.

La Salle then poured it all out in the final four minutes, scoring five points while holding the Cardinals scoreless to break a 51-all count for the victory.

Mapua Fil-Palestinian rookie Yousef Taha had a game-high 18 points but was shut down in the stretch along with the rest of the Cardinals.