LONG seen to be the Achilles heel of this La Salle team, guard play continued to be the biggest question mark for the Green Archers in the UAAP Season 87 men’s basketball finals.
Joshua David’s offensive struggles is emblematic of that gap in this championship series.
The lead guard was held to just two points on 1-of-5 shooting with an assist before going down with cramps back in Game One before only putting up three points on 1-of-6 shooting, to go with three dimes in Game Two.
Compare that to the University of the Philippines which has drawn superb games from the likes of JD Cagulangan and Gerry Abadiano in the last two games - and the difference is glaring.
La Salle coach Topex Robinson did not shy away from that criticism and rather, embraced the task at hand knowing that these supposed deficiencies only open up opportunities for the other players to step up.
“We know that it’s gonna be a challenge for us,” he said.
Topex's magic bunot
With that, he’s just grateful for the likes of EJ Gollena, who has been solid in this Finals series, averaging 10.0 points through two games, as well as pinch-hitters Vhoris Marasigan and Lian Ramiro for keeping the Green Archers competitive in the backcourt.
He also lauded the likes of young guns Doy Dungo and Matthew Rubico for seizing the opportunity despite their youth.
Rubico, in fact, was a revelation in La Salle’s 76-75 Game Two squeaker over the Fighting Maroons that Robinson is just overjoyed to have his gamble pay dividends.
“He proved to be somebody we could depend on and those opportunities na hinihintay lang nila opened up the door to us and convinced us na tama na kinuha naming sila, na the guys we recruited are delivering,” he said, with the rookie out of Lyceum playing four quality minutes in the fourth quarter.
“Yan yung mga player na 'di mo nakikita the whole time, but they’ll make good decisions. And it’s already a win for us. They’re young and they’re gonna have that experience coming in.”
Despite these hardships, Robinson still kept his faith on his guards, particularly David, as the Green Archers look to repeat in the winner-take-all Game Three on Sunday.
“What’s important to us is we’ll continue to support each other and help each other out in those kinds of lapses that we could have. Ang mahalaga is we work together and try to cover each other as a team,” he said.
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