Green Archers get past CEU, go one match away from Aspirants’ Cup three-peat
The EcoOil — De La Salle University (DLSU) Green Archers looked invincible in Game 1 of the 2024 PBA D-League Aspirants’ Cup Finals over the Centro Escolar University (CEU) Scorpions earlier today at the FilOil EcoOil Center. The Green Archers eclipsed their opponents’ tally with an impressive 98–72 victory, putting them one game away from being crowned Aspirants’ Cup champions for the third year in a row.
DLSU’s defense started the game off strong, forcing CEU into a shot clock violation on the very first possession. EJ Gollena scored the first basket of the game with one and a half minutes ticked off the clock to get the offense rolling. Henry Agunanne’s inside presence was immediately felt as the Green Archers’ big man excelled in the rebounding department and effortlessly scored through contact. La Salle’s flow of perpetual motion on both offense and defense made it difficult for the Scorpions to get clear looks, with their lone basket halfway through the first quarter being an early triple from Dylan Darbin. The rebounding disparity between both teams heavily favored the Green Archers who, in turn, converted those second or even third-chance opportunities into crucial points inside the paint. Jonnel Policarpio’s layup under the basket put DLSU ahead 16–6 at the 2:53 mark, reaching a double-digit advantage for the first time. La Salle held a comfortable 23–9 lead at the end of the first, with their interior scoring being the X-factor thus far.
CEU found new life in their game at the start of the second frame, scoring eight consecutive points while keeping the Green Archers scoreless in the first two minutes. The Scorpions brought their deficit down to 17–23 before Agunanne finally stopped the run with a putback layup. Both Henry and CJ Austria continued to put in the work for DLSU by scoring all nine of the team’s total points around the five-minute mark to protect their advantage. The Green Archers effectively iced CEU for three minutes after the latter’s early scoring outburst with DLSU pulling ahead to even bigger leads than they ended the first with. EJ Gollena’s successful trip to the line gave La Salle a massive 44–23 lead with 2:18 left in the middle of a dominant run that kept CEU scoreless once again. Two buckets from Edson Serrano and a free throw by Gab Gamboa did little to deter La Salle’s run as the Green Archers went into halftime up by 26 points, 54–28.
DLSU opened the second half with four points in just half a minute, extending their lead to a whopping 30 points. Not to go down without a fight, CEU answered back with multiple shots of their own thanks to Daniel Marcelo, Dave Bernabe, and Jerome Santos scoring nine points in quick succession. La Salle’s paint control continued in the third with Raven Cortez who not only outrebounded the rest of the floor but also scored ten points in under four minutes of play. The Scorpions’ shooting improved exponentially compared to how they fared in the first half, but La Salle always found a response for anything and everything they attempted. Agunanne went down with 3:39 left in the frame after receiving an inadvertent elbow while fighting for the rebound, forcing him back onto the bench. Even with CEU’s best-scoring quarter of the entire game, DLSU was still always a step ahead and went into the final ten minutes up 79–45.
A 34-point lead was already massive and virtually improbable to come back from, but La Salle still never took their foot off the gas pedal and continued to play high-octane offense throughout the final quarter. Christian Malicana, Peter de Guzman, Marcelo, Serrano, and Gamboa all kept fighting and even reduced the Green Archers’ lead to the lowest it had been since the middle part of the third period. La Salle’s young stars took to the floor in the last few minutes of the game, giving them much-needed experience ahead of their future collegiate careers. DLSU dribbled out the final seconds of the game to secure their Game 1 victory, 98–72.
The Green Archers will look to finish the series come Game 2 on May 9, Thursday, 7:30 PM at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig.
