The Green Archers look to bounce back from a tough opening-day loss as they go up against defending champion Ateneo. Game time is at 3PM.
It’s all about stopping Greg Slaughter. The 7-footer was a beast down low in the Eagles’ first game against Adamson as he netted 23 points on 9-14 shooting. He will be Ateneo’s focal point on offense this season.
La Salle has a horde of agile bigmen that can rotate in defending Slaughter. The key is to prevent him from moving closer to the basket and force him to make a tough shot.
Other Blue Eagles that need to be contained are Nico Salva, Kirk Long, Emman Monfort and Kiefer Ravena. Expect Ravena to spring back from a disappointing senior’s debut where he failed to score a single point.
For the Archers to have a good chance in winning, they have to connect on their outside shots. The team needs a good shooting performance from LA, Simon, Sam and Luigi in order to contend in this game. Though La Salle shot a fair 62% from the charity stripe in their last game, they need to do even better tomorrow against a very good free-throw shooting team in Ateneo.
In an intense game such as this, every possession and point matters. The Archers remain the underdogs in this match-up but they are expected to go all out for the win tomorrow and avoid going 0-2 early in the season.