Warriors eye confirmation, Archers revenge in rematch
La Salle will have its return match against the team that put the only blemish in the Green Archers’ record so far in Season 87 of the UAAP men’s basketball tournament.
And with coach Topex Robinson likely getting out of that controversial spitting incident with just a “stern warning” to make sure that all hands are on deck for La Salle, how it deals with red-hot University of the East for the second time will be something worth seeing at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
More so because a 75-71 setback to the Red Warriors triggered a reawakening of the Archers, whose cornerstone Kevin Quiambao has embraced a new role to lead La Salle to four straight wins after that.
The Warriors, meanwhile, touched off a five-game winning streak with that upset and are surely eager to find out whether they can sustain that kind of a performance and verify talks of them being Final Four-worthy after the first round.
“Since we lost that game, we returned to embracing the team’s system,” Quiambao, the reigning MVP, said in Filipino. “I also sacrificed [scoring] to make sure that everyone is involved. And it has worked wonders for us.”
Tip-off time is 6 p.m. as La Salle tries to wriggle out of a tie with University of the Philippines (UP) at the top. Adamson and Far Eastern collide in the curtain-raiser at 4 p.m.
Inconclusive evidence
Meanwhile, Robinson and UP guard Reyland Torres will likely be with their respective teams this weekend after receiving stern warnings from a subcommittee of the league’s board of managing directors.
Sources privy to the situation bared to Inquirer Sports that the subcommittee in coordination with the commissioner’s office has recommended to the BMD to give Robinson and Torres veritable slaps on the wrist after meeting both parties at Novotel on Thursday.
The BMD will tackle the recommendation of the subcommittee on Saturday afternoon as both parties could elude suspension due to inconclusive evidence about the alleged spitting incident in the third quarter of La Salle’s 68-56 win over UP on Sunday at Mall of Asia Arena.
Representatives of both teams still refused to comment on the incident at press time.
