Ateneo versus La Salle in last year’s finals
Blue and green (sans Cory yellow) will dominate the Araneta Coliseum this Sunday anew, just a week after the Ateneo Blue Eagles beat archrival La Salle Green Archers, 76-72, in the first round of the UAAP men’s basketball tournament. Usually held at the end of the second round, the second ADMU-DLSU game will be held on August 16 at 5 p.m. instead because of the first-round rankings.
First round team standings:
Ateneo de Manila University: 6-1
Far Eastern University: 6-1
De La Salle University: 4-3
University of the East: 4-3
University of Sto. Tomas: 4-3
National University: 2-5
University of the Philippines: 1-6
Adamson University: 1-6
In the first two games of the second round that started yesterday, August 13, AdU beat DLSU, 61-55, while ADMU beat UE, 80-75. This puts ADMU in the lead at 7-1, while DLSU and UE tie up at 4-4.
“Didn’t we just play [DLSU]?” asked Ateneo coach Norman Black. “Emotionally, it’s so difficult to do what they’re asking us to do, to play La Salle on a Sunday then come back and play them again on another Sunday… We’re just going to have to find a way to get back up again for Sunday’s game,” he told SPOT.ph.
“Usual game din ’yun; normally, we really prepare for each game,” La Salle coach Franz Pumaren said. “[The loss against AdU] is going to have a special effect on our team standing because we went down to four [wins] and four [losses]. Hopefully we can bounce back.”
“That’s the thing; you can’t really judge another game by another game,” Black said. “That’s the way basketball goes. Different match-ups create different stories and different games. It’s going to be tough because they lost today so they’ll be trying to bounce back. But as a team, we continue to try to look for consistent, good 40 minutes,” he revealed.
“To get to the final four is our main objective right now; it’s to be competitive,” Pumaren said. Black seems to have bigger plans for his team: “At this point in the season, it’s all about winning. We’re still trying to reach our goal which is to make it to the top two,” Black said.
