The De La Salle Green Archers finished third in the 3-day, 6-team invitational tournament held in Oroquieta City, Misamis Occidental over the weekend. Other participants were San Beda, Letran, NU, Southwestern University and the University of Cebu.
Teams were bracketed to two groups in a single round robin eliminations with the top two of each advancing to the cross-over semis. Winners of both matches will play in the finals while the losers square off for third place.
The Green Archers dropped their initial outing against the Knights 68-69 Friday night but bounced back the following day against the University of Cebu 83-73. In the semis Sunday morning, the team lost a close one to the Red Lions 60-62.
In the third place match against the Bulldogs, La Salle fought its way back from a 17-point halftime deficit and forced overtime after rallying 8 points down in the final 37 seconds of regulation. They came out victorious 77-75.
No stats were available but the consistent performers were Kib Montalbo, Aljun Melecio, Andrei Caracut, Santi Santillan and Jollo Go. With no more Ben Mbala and Abu Tratter, third year player Justine Baltazar got to see extensive court action along with incoming bigs Taane Samuel and Brandon Bates.
This is the first tournament participated by team under new head coach Louie Gonzalez.
Team Photo by Br Arian Lopez FSC
Back to the UAAP, the Green Booters got their loss in the second round 0-2 against league-leading UP last Thursday.
Despite the loss, La Salle remains in 4th in the standings at 16 points and still have a 3-point lead over NU and UE. They will next face UST on April 8.
The Green Spikers finally get a win in the second round last Wednesday after beating winless UE in straight sets. However their quest to get that fourth seed in the semis hit a roadblock Sunday when they lost to UST 1-3. And with a surprise straight-set win by Adamson over NU, La Salle drops to 6th at 4-7, a full game behind the Tigers and Falcons who are both tied at 5-6.
The team will battle Adamson on April 4.
Still on top with 2 matches left, the La Salle women’s chess team is nearing its goal to recapture the UAAP title.
On the men’s side La Salle remains in second behind NU in the team standings. Even if they maintain their current position, it is still a big improvement from their 5th place standing last season.
There will be no games this week. Visit www.goarchers.com/standings and be updated with the other UAAP events.