Desididong makasungit ng tiketa tungong Final Four ang De La Salle Green Archers at subukang gibain ang puwersa ng Ateneo Blue Eagles upang panatilihin ang No.4 ranking sa kanilang darating na salpukan para sa huling pwesto sa Semifinals. Round 2 Elimination Match ng UAAP Season 88 Men’s Basketball, Araneta Coliseum, Cubao, Nob 26.
Babakbakin ng La salle ang dilaab ng Ateneo upang subukang isara ang liderato ng wala si Ej Gollena matapos umani ng one-game suspension, at iwasan ang playoff sa kanilang bakbakan 4:30pm.
Nauna nang pumorsyento para sa third-straight final four ang berde at puting koponan matapos lusutan ang puwersa defending champion University of the Philippines (UP) sa bisa na 87-82 sa kanilang salpukan nung nakaraang sabado, sapat upang isukbit ang 7-6 bentahe.
"What's good about this is kahit nasaang position ka, if it's gonna be Ateneo vs La Salle, it's always gonna be a grind-out game. For us, we have to also fix a lot of stuff [because] we made a lot of mistakes in our game today, so just like what Mike [Phillips] said, as much as you celebrate that, you have to move forward. It's gonna be an exciting end of the elimination game for us against Ateneo, so it's gonna be fun,” ani La Salle head coach Topex Robinson.
Samantala, susubukan namang dagitin ng Ateneo ang panalo kontra La Salle upang pilit mapatatag ang kapit sa liderato at panatilihin ang dilaab ng koponan. Mamanduhan din ng Far Eastern University (FEU) ang rumaragasang puwersa ng University of Sto. Tomas (UST) upang ipilit ang two-way playoff ng kanilang tunggalian sa parehong araw, 2pm.
Kung sakalimg maunsyami ang panalo ng Ateneo kontra La Salle at FEU kontra UST, tuluyang ililista ang UP-UST at NU-La salle sa Final Four best-of-three Finals ng nasabing torneo.
“In a way, I think La Salle helped us a lot by fighting back in that game and not giving up because they gave a template to other teams to try to extend pressure. It's something that we realized we had to work on, so we got much better at that. I certainly don't think that the character of the next game with La Salle is going to look like that one. I would imagine that it'll be a tough, closely fought, competitive game. But you have to take learnings out of every game," ani Ateneo head coach Tab Baldwin.
Hahamunin ng top-seeded National University (11-3) ang uupo sa huling puwesto ng Final Four bitbit ang twice-to-beat advantage. Matatandaang dati nang kinalos ng NU ang nag iinit na dilaab La salle, FEU, at Ateneo sa kanilang unang elimination round matchups.
Selyado na ng UST ang No.3 ranking kahit biguin sila ng FEU sa kanilang tunggalian kabilang ang tie-breaker tala nila sa La salle kung ang parehong koponan ay kakana ng 8-6 bentahe.
Susubukang muli ng UST ang puwersa ng UP na may twice-to-beat advantage para sa Final Four sa dalawang magkasunod na season at pangatlo simula 2019, step-ladder duwelo.
Written by Kurt Pagsibigan, Insight PH
Kurt Pagsibigan, Insight PH is a dedicated campus journalist and contributor. Their insightful writing sparks meaningful conversations and keeps the community informed.
