De La Salle University may have beaten University of the Philippines in their elimination-round matches in Season 88 of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) men’s basketball tournament.
But it doesn’t mean that their looming finals series will be a walk in the park.
La Salle head coach Topex Robinson said they are expecting a tough UP side to show up when they open their titular showdown on Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
After blowing hot and cold in the eliminations, the Green Archers caught fire in the Final Four as they downed topseed National University, highlighted by a gritty 78-73 triumph in their do-or-die match last Saturday.
On the same note, UP threaded the eye of a needle as it needed a miraculous three-pointer from Terrence Fortea in the crucial stretch to eye out a heart-stopping 82-81 triumph in the other Final Four pairing.
With this kind of results, Robinson asserted that making a prediction will not be easy.
“I really don’t know what’s going to happen this time but one thing is for sure, we’re happy to be here. It really tested the character of this team, but what a way to end those struggles,” Robinson said.
Robinson won his first UAAP crown as head coach in 2023 when La Salle defeated UP in three games with the likes of Kevin Quiambao, Evan Nelle and Mark Nonoy at the helm.
However, the Maroons under mentor Goldwin Monteverde and led by JD Cagulangan and Quentin Millora-Brown, stormed back and dethroned the Green Archers in three games of their Season 87 finale.
Facing UP three straight times in the finals, Robinson believes La Salle, led by Mike Phillips, Jacob Cortez, Luis Pablo, Mason Amos and Kean Baclaan, has the potential to win it all after what they had been through just to enter the championship round.
“When we built this team, we wanted to make sure that, at the end of the season, they become one. When everybody was doubting us, pushing us away already, and not counting us in, it gave us the motivation — not to prove to others — but to prove to ourselves that we are capable as long as we stick together,” Robinson said.