Topex wants gang effort from his Archers in plugging KQ hole
There’s a new breed of players at La Salle, and the search is on as to who can plug the Kevin Quiambao-sized hole when the UAAP tour of redemption for the Green Archers comes along.
And despite having a potentially star-studded roster, coach Topex Robinson would be willing to settle for the entire team chipping in.
After three years with La Salle and one championship, Quiamabao took his act to South Korea to play for the Sono Skygunners in the KBL, leaving La Salle on a losing note after the Archers fell short to the University of the Philippines.
The Archers went guard-heavy in cushioning the loss of Quiambao as the backcourt pairing of new recruits Kean Baclaan, formerly of National University, and ex-San Beda Red Lion Jacob Cortez get to see action.
Another big find is former Ateneo Blue Eagle Mason Amos, former Fighting Maroon Luis Pablo and rookie Lebron Jhames Daep from Perpetual Help are also suiting up to backstop holdovers Mike Phillips, JC Macalalag, Earl Abadam and EJ Gollena.
“I think being clear with each and everyone’s responsibility in the team is something that we’ve been working on right now,” Robinson said. “Hopefully, by the end of this tournament, we can already somehow identify each one’s roles.
“We started off this season really finding our identity,” he said. “We discussed it at the start of the game. We really wanna be the best defensive team in this tournament.”
La Salle is still far from the lethal form it wants to be in, and although they have big names on paper, the Archers are still slowly just coming together in the preseason league.
Good thing is there’s plenty of time to do that.
“We only have a few stats that we will always look at after the game and that’s rebounding and assists,” Robinson went on. “Because that will [indicate] the temperature of this team.
“I really love what I saw (in our first game),” Robinson said. “Our leaders are really sharing the basketball.”
