De La Salle University opened its University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 87 men’s basketball tournament best-of-three finals series with a tough loss to University of the Philippines (UP).

But as far as Green Archers coach Topex Robinson is concerned, everything is already a thing of the past.

“You don’t win a championship by winning one game, you need two games,” a defiant Robinson said.

“So, we still have a chance.”

The Green Archers found themselves with their backs against the wall after a second half collapse to fall, 65-73, in the opener last Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

A disastrous dry spell in the third quarter combined with back-to-back Most Valuable Player winner Kevin Quiambao scoring only one point in the second half after dropping 18 before the halftime break doomed La Salle.

But the Green Archers are unfazed.

After all, the squad will approach Game 2 today at the Mall of Asia Arena in an all-too-familiar situation.   

“We’ve been in this situation before, we just have to keep on being positive and try to learn from this experience. Again, that’s a tough team we play, we just have to slug it out in the end,” Robinson said.

La Salle hopes it could replicate the same come-from-behind series victory last year.

In the two protagonists’ first-ever finals meeting in the previous season, the Green Archers were blown out by 30 points in Game 1. They returned the favor in the second match before eking out a four-point victory in the series decider for their 10th title overall.  

Taking their feat last year as inspiration, Robinson continues to lift his team’s morale.

And he sees that the painful Game 1 loss did not dampen the spirits of his wards.

“The good thing about the team in the dugout, was nobody was blaming nobody. We’ve gone this far because of how we really became a united front and we will not let any negativity get in our way,” Robinson said.

“We will play this championship the way we should play — as a big family. For us, it’s not always flowers and rainbows, you got to go through those rough patches also,” he added.

La Salle will try to rise above the adversity to keep their title-retention bid alive and force a Game 3 on Sunday.