La Salle Better, Stronger Next Year – Dindo

MANILA, Philippines — It was a heartbreaking defeat, but La Salle coach Dindo Pumaren is not blaming anyone for their 69-59 overtime loss to No. 1 seed Far Eastern University last Thursday.

He saw some positives and believes his team will come back better and stronger next year.

"It's a young team but hopefully next year they can mature," said Pumaren.

"I think FEU played well in the last three minutes and we made some lapses as far as decision making is concern."

"Actually we controlled the game already but yung seconds before (Paul) Sanga took the shot, we had one more foul to give and our instruction was to let him go dribble or drive, but he took the three. Big shot," said Pumaren of the basket that ended La Salle’s upset dreams.

Pumaren took the loss graciously, believing his team has the potential to reach the top in the next few years. Proof, he said, was La Salle’s 80-66 triumph over FEU during the second round of the elims.

He is also confident that next year, the Archers will be more competitive with the addition of former RP U-18 cager Fil-Am Norbert Torres, La Salle Zobel's Arnold Van Opstal and 2009 NCAA juniors Most Valuable Player and ex-JRU Light Bomber Louie Vigil.

Many also believe the Archers have overachieved this season, having defied great odds to make it to the Final Four.

Their performance even surpassed that of University of the East and University of Santo Tomas despite having only four veterans – Simon Atkins, Joshua "Spider" Webb, Maui Villanueva, and Jovet Mendoza – in the team.

They finished the elims with an 8-6 record – not bad for a team laden with rookies and sophomores.

Jonas Terrado, Manila Bulletin