Archers down Falcons

MANILA, Philippines – Supercharged La Salle quashed the challenge of dangerous Adamson with sharp arrows, roaring to a 91-75 rout to rack up its fifth straight triumph in the UAAP LXXIX men’s basketball at the MOA Arena yesterday.

Firing on all cylinders, the Archers took command with a big 27-17 second quarter advantage and didn’t let up en route to tightening their grip on the lead and handing the Falcons of coach Franz Pumaren their second loss in five outings.

“We were able to execute our game plans both on defense and offense,” said DLSU coach Aldin Ayo.

In a massive display of firepower, the Archers shot 50 percent from beyond the arc (7-of-14) and 47 percent in the two-point area (27-of-58) with Ben Mbala (21), Jeron Teng (15), Aljun Melecio (13), Kib Montalbo (12) and Thomas Torres (11) logging double figures.

“If there’s one thing we achieved in this game, we executed our offense well. We were good on defense but in the past four games, our offense has always been a setback,” said Ayo.

And bad news for the rest, Ayo said DLSU has yet to be at their very best.

“If I rate it, we’re at 70-75 percent now. We started really low against FEU (opening game), perhaps we’re at 15 percent then, probably due to rust factor. But the good thing is, we’re improving every game,” said Ayo.

Ateneo nipped struggling University of the East, 84-69, to join Adamson at second with 3-2. The Warriors slipped to 0-5.

After squandering a double-digit margin in the second period, the Blue Eagles got their bearings back and restored a 58-46 tear and kept UE at bay the rest of the way.

“Hard-earned win. As expected UE went all out. The score didn’t tell the whole story how this game was fought,” said AdMU’s Sandy Arespacochaga.