By Jonas Terrado - Manila Bulletin - July 25, 2008
Defending champion De La Salle continued its quest for the top spot yesterday even as University of the East snapped out of a two-game losing skein in the UAAP basketball tournament at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig City.
The Archers thumped an overmatched Adamson University Falcons, 76-61, to stretch their winning run to four after which the Warriors scalped the Fighting Maroons of the University of the Philippines, 87-58, for their third win in five starts.
The Warriors put on an offensive show right from the start and led by as much as 40 points, 81-41, in the last quarter to erase the memory of their 64-66 loss to the Falcons last Sunday.
Hans Thiele led UE with 15 points and five rebounds while James Martinez and Raffy Reyes made 11 and 10 points, respectively.
"Game plan namin was to be aggressive because the last four games we didn’t have that," UE coach Dindo Pumaren said. "Today we showed what UE basketball is all about."
The loss was the fourth in five games for the Fighting Maroons.
But while the Warriors were fiery right from the start, the Archers allowed the Falcons to take an early 8-4 lead before exploding a 14-3 bomb to take the driver’s seat for good, 18-11, after the first 10 minutes. This was extended to 35-22 at the turn.
The Falcons managed to rally to within 35-39 in the third period but JV Casio, Rico Maierhofer and Maui Villanueva rose to the occasion and towed the Archers to a 52-41 advantage going into the final period where the Taft-based dribblers finally broke the Falcons’ backs by taking a 15-point lead which they nurtured until the final buzzer.
Casio poured in 19 points and grabbed four rebounds to lead the Archers to their fourth straight victory and an overall 4-1 card. Maierhofer had 13 points and seven rebounds while Villanueva chipped in 12 markers and four rebounds.
"Coming into this game, we made sure our mindset was to really play hard, we know they (Falcons) are capable of beating any other school after they beat UE, so we really came prepared for whatever things they will throw against us," DLSU head coach Franz Pumaren said.
"They (Falcons) gave us problems, but I’m just happy that my players were ready for any such scenario," Pumaren said while citing Villanueva’s performance.
"That’s why other schools were after him (Villanueva) because they saw his potential but he’s a very smart player despite being undersized," Pumaren said.
Marc Agustin and Jan Colina led the way for the Falcons, who dropped to a 2-3 card, with 12 points each.
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