Green Archers missing their mark twice

DLSU's Simon Atkins chillin' too much?
(Photo by Roy Afable)

The De La Salle Green Archers are one of the best teams in the UAAP and this season hasn't been a good one for them. Their opening day game loss against FEU should be a wake up call but that wasn't the case. Last Saturday, rivals Ateneo and La Salle faced once more for another classic match-up. Everybody expected the Archers to give the Blue Eagles a run for their money and get that much needed W.

The Gang Green welcomed LA Revilla back in their roster as they missed his services for quite a while. They have a healthy roster and some new faces to boot. The only thing that's missing was their consistency. While they had a strong start in the first half against FEU on opening day, the Archers never lead the entire game against their rivals from Katipunan.

In spite of La Salle's benc scoring they were still no match from Ateneo's dominance -- they can blame that on Keifer Ravena's explosive game -- a double-double performance coming off his quiet UAAP debut. He dropped 24 points, 10 boards, a couple of dime drops and stolen the ball 5 times. Let's not forget about Greg Slaughter PWN1N6 his Green Archer counterpart Arnold Van Opstal in the paint.

LA Revilla managed to get 22 points but wasn't enough to lift his team all the way to the end of the rainbow, so to speak. Playing in his final year of UAAP hoops, Simon Atkins wasn't much of a factor having only scored 2 points and fouled out late in the fourth.

Their best game was perhaps in the 3rd quarter. There was finally a sighting of that trademark La Salle press. The Archers held Ravena to just 2 points in the second half. Their perimeter game came in late as well. They were shooting 23.5% from 3-point land but was eclipse by Ateneo's scoring off the fastbreak and in the paint.

Could it be that Archers' coach Dindo Pumaren is having trouble with his rotation or his boys just weren't themselves yet again? Whatever it is, the Gang Green better bounce back in their next game against a new and improved UP Fighting Maroons this Saturday.

Main Game Results:

Ateneo -- 81

Ravena 24, Salva 18, Monfort 10, Long 10, Slaughter 7, Golla 6, Tiongson 2, Gonzaga 2, Chua 2, Capacio 0, Sumalinog 0, Austria 0

La Salle -- 72

Revilla 22, Tampus 10, Torres 9, De La Paz 9, Marata 9, Van Opstal 5, Villanueva 4, Mendoza 2, Atkins 2, Sara 0, Gotdalera 0, Vosotros 0, Paredes 0, Webb 0

Quarter Scores: 23-16, 18-14, 21-19, 19-23

First Game Results:

AdU -- 78

Nuyles 22, Camson 12, Lozada 8, Colina 8, Manyara 6, Petilos 5, Canada 5, Etrone 4, Cabrera 3, Brondial 2, Alvarez 2, Monteclaro 1, Manuel 0, Agustin 0, Rios 0, Olalia 0

FEU -- 59

Garcia 20, Ramos 14, Cawaling 11, Romeo 5, Tolomia 4, Cruz 2, Excimiano 2, Escoto 1, Sentcheu 0, Pogoy 0, Foronda 0, Bringas 0, Knuttel 0

Quarter Scores: 15-16, 17-18, 14-15, 22-10