League-leading Archers face Tams

Manila, Philippines -  De La Salle seeks to hold on to top spot against Far Eastern U while National U and defending champion Ateneo collide in an early showdown of favorites in today’s explosive UAAP Season 75 seniors basketball double-header at the Mall of Asia Arena.

The Green Archers (2-0) take on the Tamaraws (1-0) at 2 p.m. in a thrilling curtain-raiser to the much-anticipated epic game between the host Bulldogs, who heralded their bid with an emphatic 90-55 rout of University of the East on opening day, and the Blue Eagles (1-1), who are bent on bouncing back after a 70-71 setback to Santo Tomas last Thursday.

“Definitely, FEU’s a very strong team. From the 1-5 spots I think they have solid players and we really have to come up with our A-game against them,” said DLSU coach Gee Abanilla after his wards nipped the Warriors, 67-59, for win No. 2.

“La Salle has shown tremendous improvement since summer, especially their big men,” said FEU mentor Bert Flores, whose bunch eked out a come-from-behind 73-72 victory over the Tigers in their opening assignment. 

The DLSU-FEU match is expected to showcase Green Archers’ 1-2 punch Jeron Teng and LA Revilla against the Tams’ vaunted backcourt trio of RR Garcia, Terrence Romeo and Michael Tolomia.

But the spotlight for today’s livewire slate is more on NU, billed as a contender after winning the Filoil Flying V Pre-season tournament, and Ateneo, the four-time defending champion.

“Ateneo is the defending champion. We respect them a lot and we know what to expect from them. We’ll give it our best shot,” said NU’s Eric Altamirano, whose young crew led by Bobby Ray Parks Jr. and Emmanuel Mbe will be tested by Ateneo’s Greg Slaughter, Kiefer Ravena and Nico Salva.

The Eagles kicked off their “drive for five” with a 73-57 drubbing of Adamson but squandered a 19-point lead in that blown game against the Tigers.

Meanwhile, defending champion National University Bullpups continued to hold sway in the juniors basketball tourney as the hosts waylaid Adamson, 75-50, on a rainy Saturday morning at the Mall of Asia Arena.

In the other game, De La Salle-Zobel drew a splendid performance from Renzo Subido to outclass University of the East, 78-67.

The juniors games were played amid heavy rains brought about by tropical depression “Ferdie.”  Action was underway when the UAAP board, “with the best interest of the players and patrons in mind,” postponed the afternoon’s seniors’ division double-header.

“Ticket arrangements for the affected games will be honored upon the confirmation of the final date and venue,” the league said in a statement.

Yesterday’s seniors games should have featured UE versus Adamson and UP against UST.

For the same reason, the NCAA also postponed its scheduled games over at The Arena in San Juan.

Rained out were matches pitting Mapua versus Arellano and San Beda against Letran.