Tigers aim for share of lead
University of Santo Tomas is coming off a character win, Far Eastern U has piled up moral victories its coach hates.
So when those two squads occupying opposite ends of the pole battle Wednesday, one will be looking for a follow-up to an ego-boosting triumph while the other will be seeking to finally chalk something tangible up and not be left too far behind in Season 88 eliminations of the UAAP men’s basketball tournament.
“Hopefully this makes us a better and stronger team with the experience we had against Ateneo,” said Growling Tigers assistant coach Juno Sauler after a 98-89 triple overtime victory over the Blue Eagles over the weekend, with their first chance at that coming at 5 p.m. against the Tamaraws at Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.
A win will give the Tigers a share of the lead with idle National U at 5-1, even as the Tamaraws try to bring down a heavyweight and give coach Sean Chambers something to see on the leaderboard.
“We need to get over the so-called hill to finalize and finish these games off,” Chambers said as his Tamaraws are at 1-4, just a game better than cellar-dwelling University of the East. “I spoke to all of them during practice, saying that we have to go earn the respect of the rest of the team in the league by winning against some of the upper echelon teams to let them know that we have arrived.
“We’re playing great basketball, but we just gotta finish off these games and the deal,” he went on. “So, I mean, I’m happy with their effort, but I hate losing, and I just think that we don’t want moral victories. I know we’re playing good basketball. We just gotta get one more step over to beat these top teams.”
Meanwhile, La Salle tries to climb to .500 when the Green Archers sug it out with the Red Warriors in the 3 p.m. game.
Enduring its worst start since coach Topex Robinson took over in 2023, La Salle is digging deep to stay within the top-four range.
“There’s no way for us but to, again, keep on persevering and fighting,” Robinson said even after grim news on Mason Amos knee injury was reported. “We could have had all the reasons to just go down and die, but I guess that’s the least of our priorities right now.
“We have a lot of basketball to play, a lot of opportunities to bounce back,” he said. “What’s important is we stick together and go through this harder this time, especially with injuries to our players but it is what it is. As long as we have life, we have a chance.”
Amos sustained an MCL tear in an 82-78 loss to the Bulldogs and could likely miss the next eight weeks.
