Archers ready to ride out rough patch with crown now loose on their heads after Maroons strike first

La Salle coach Topex Robinson has always preached culture, love and sticking together since he was given the keys to the Green Archers program last year, where they ended a six-year championship drought for one of the esteemed programs in the UAAP.

And it seems like the Archers will continue to live by it even after University of the Philippines pushed the defending champions’ backs against the wall with a 73-65 victory in Game 1 of the Season 87 men’s basketball finals on Sunday.

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“The good thing about the team in the dugout was nobody was blaming nobody,” Robinson said as the Maroons defeated them for the first time this season. “We’ve gone this far because of how we really became a united front and we will not let any negativity get in our way.”

LIVE: UAAP Season 87 basketball Finals Game 2 – La Salle vs UP

That culture will be put to a litmus test again in the most important game of La Salle’s season, Game 2 of the title series set at 5:30 p.m. at Mall of Asia Arena, where the Archers aim to extend the series to a do-or-die Game 3 to keep the championship belt on their waists.

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“We will play this championship the way we should play [it]—as a big family. It’s not always flowers and rainbows and you got to go through those rough patches,” Robinson said. “It’s just gonna define us as a team, as long as we always do it right, we play right and honor this game that we love.”

Recovered with grace

“That has always been good to us and we will not be defined by losing a game … What’s important to us is we stick to what we live for: we take care of each other, we protect each other. That’s the most important thing,” the sophomore mentor went on.

The Archers have been in this same position before, worse even, as the Maroons buried them via a 30-point beatdown in Game 1 of Robinson’s and Kevin Quiambao’s first finals appearance last season.

But La Salle recovered with grace and handed the State U a 20-point defeat in Game 2 before finding gold at the end of the rainbow.

READ: UAAP Finals: La Salle, UP know nothing is decided yet after Game 1

The Taft-based squad actually looked poised to secure the all-important series opener after taking control of the first half and the two-time MVP already firing at will before UP showed its championship experience in its fourth straight Finals appearance behind graduating guard JD Cagulangan and one-and-done towering force Quentin Millora-Brown.

“[UP] came in prepared. QMB [Millora-Brown’s nickname] was spectacular earlier. That’s why he is there, they got him there because of that,” Robinson added. “As bad as it was, we gave ourselves a chance to win, and that’s what’s important, we were down in the latter part of the game. We figured a way to recover and give ourselves a chance to win and that’s just part of the game.”

“[The Maroons] played well, we gave them [crucial] points. It is what it is. We just have to learn and watch the game, I don’t wanna say anything because I haven’t seen the game. There’s a lot of plays that I have to watch first and work [with the] team to figure it out,” Robinson added after his crew scored only 24 points in the last two frames, including just nine in the third quarter.

READ: La Salle hopes to pull off another UAAP Finals comeback

UP has been on the wrong side of Game 2 in most of its title-bouts—a part of history that the Maroons can finally change to climb back to the throne they only once sat on. INQ

IT STARTS WITH THEM

No statistical story has consistently defined the three games La Salle and University of the Philippines has played except for two: Starters’ production and shooting percentage. All the other numbers have been up-and-down for both squads regardless of who won in the previous encounters.

47

Average points of La Salle’s starters in elimination round wins

25.5

Average points of UP starters in elimination round losses

55

Total points of UP starters in Game 1 win

25

Total points of La Salle starters in Game 1 loss

In both elimination round wins, La Salle shot an average of 40.3 percent from the field, compared to UP’s 33.3. In Game 1 of the Finals, up hit 39.4 percent of its shots while La Salle made just 34.7, including a paltry 21.1 percent by its starters.