LA Salle coach Topex Robinson opted out of Phoenix in the PBA for greener pastures with the Green Archers last January. Will it be worth it?
“We know that it’s gonna be hard. Winning a championship is gonna be hard. Playing against the top college team in the country right now is gonna be hard,” Robinson said.
“But sa amin, at the moment we just keep on enjoying that game, the game that we love, the game that has been good to us, and not shy away from the responsibility of the result of the ball game,” he added.
The pressure now rests on University of the Philippines to get its act together and get the job done after failing to finish off La Salle, getting beaten to a pulp 60-82 in Game 2.
The Archers and Fighting Maroons go at it one last time tonight for all the marbles in Game 3 of their title series for the 86th UAAP basketball tournament crown before an expected mammoth crowd at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The rubber match is set at 6 p.m., with La Salle raring to end a seven-year dry spell and gift Robinson his first title in the collegiate play after losing with San Sebastian in 2011 and with Lyceum in 2017 and 2018 in the NCAA.
UP counterpart Goldwin Monteverde is seeking a second diadem in the last three seasons and seemed on the verge of completing that mission after the Maroons overpowered the Archers 97-67 in the opener of the race-to-2 series Wednesday last week.
But Robinson and his wards showed up with fire on their fires and fight on their souls in the second game to drag the Big Dance into a winner-take-all.
“I thought they had more energy in Game 2. Part of it (La Salle’s energy) is in the rebounding department,” Monteverde said. “I think they were getting most of the 50-50 balls earlier. For me, that’s a huge thing but then again definitely we’ll learn from that.”
Robinson pointed out that the one who controls the rebounds will control the game, saying: “We ride on the saying that ‘no rebounds, no rings.’”
Newly minted MVP Kevin Quiambao and Michael Phillips collared a combined 26 of La Salle’s 58 rebounds in Game 2–12 more than the Maroons.
Aside from Quiambao and Michael Phillips, among those expected to carry the fight for the Archers are graduating guard Evan Nelle, who fired blanks with only four points in the second tiff, but had 12 rebounds, 10 assists, five steals, a block, Francis Escandor, Joshua David, and CJ Austria.
“It comes down to pagalingan na lang itong Game 3. UP will be ready for whatever we have to bring, we will be ready with whatever they have to bring,” Nelle said.
“But how I see Game 3 is pagalingan na lang talaga ito. Hopefully we can get Game 3 and get the glory.”
UP will rely on CJ Cansino, Malick Diouf, Harold Alarcon, and JD Cagulangan.
Robinson, like he always does, waxed philosophical after using Quiambao off the bench the last time out, convinced his father figure approach would give them cage glory.
“You mentioned relationships, that’s where trust happens. It’s gonna take a while before it blooms, and now, you see that your MVP is accepting the fact that he’s gonna come off the bench,” he said. “So that’s where, I would say, the epitome of leading this team is knowing that they believe in what you do.
“They don’t have any questions when we say, ‘you’re not gonna start,’ no questions. Ganoon ka-simple. You don’t have to worry about their reaction, as in go lang coach, kung ano gusto mong gawin, susunod lang kami sa iyo.”