Rampaging Archers target No. 12 vs Warriors

Fresh from a merciless 43-point beatdown of its last opponent, La Salle sets out to continue its blowout spree and claim No. 12 in today’s UAAP LXXIX men’s basketball tournament at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The Green Archers, who routed the UST Tigers, 9956, last Sunday, train their lethal arrows against the emb at t l e d University of the East Warriors ( 2- 8) as they try to close in on a rare 14-game sweep and an outright finals stint.

“We’re taking it one game at a time,” said assistant coach Paulo Sauler after DLSU posted that seasonhigh winning margin. “We’re not thinking of a sweep and we haven’t really achieved anything yet.”

La Salle flexed its muscles in the fourth quarter of the one-sided affair against UST when it fielded an all-big man crew composed of Cameroonian Ben Mbala, Fil- Ams Abu Tratter, Julian Sargent and Jason Perkins and Pampanga-born Mark Dyke.

First assistant Louie Gonzales said coach Aldin Ayo wanted to test the big men while throwing off their opponents with their unpredictability.

“We want to show what this team is capable of and stay unpredictable as how coach wants it,” said Gonzales.

“We aim to continue learning because at this stage we’re still a work in progress. We’re in the homestretch of the eliminations and we want to prepare ourselves to cover whatever situation may arise,” he added.

La Salle faces a UE squad on the brink of elimination and desperate to post an upset in the 2 p.m. top-versusbottom duel and stay alive.

“Mathematically, until the (higher ranked) teams get seven wins, we still have a shot. For sure, we’ll still play hard and go for the win, no matter what happens,” said UE mentor Derrick Pumaren.