Archers thankful for breakthrough win amid pressure

MANILA, Philippines — The DLSU Green Archers found themselves struggling in the first few games of the UAAP Season 82 men's basketball tournament.

Before Saturday's game against Adamson, the Taft squad was coming off back-to-back losses and were seventh in the standings.

With Andrei Caracut's late-game heroics, the Archers were able to get back on the win column and shoot down Adamson, 68-61 and improve their record to 2-3.

The impact of the victory didn't go by DLSU coach Gian Nazario.

"Thank you, Lord for the game. It's been tough for us. We really felt the pressure as a team, coaching staff, players, everyone in the team, we felt the pressure," Nazario said after the game.

"Just seeing our schedule lang in the first round, it's been really tough," he said.

For a well-performing program like La Salle's, it was unusual to see them at the bottom half of the standings.
 
But the Archers' mentor is seeing it as a challenge.

"When you have a standing of 1-3, na you're very uncomfortable with, yung mga shaky starts na ganyan, that's what I think 'yun nag-test sa amin sa first four games namin," Nazario said.

"Just like our approach in every game, stick together, trust what we're doing and no matter how bad the start is, it's a four-quarter game," he added.

La Salle hopes to build on the momentum of this win when they face the streaking UP Fighting Maroons on Wednesday, September 25.