Meeting for the second time this off-season, the Green Archers systematically decimated the Blue Eagles in a one-sided 98-66 rout Sunday afternoon at the Filoil Flying V Centre.
For 40 minutes, the Aldin Ayo-mentored squad outhustled and, ultimately, outworked their rivals. La Salle outrebounded (53 to 37), forced more turnovers (28 to18), and limited the Blue Eagles to just 56 field goal attempts for the entire game.
No one was more impressed with the Green Archers’ performance than Gilas Pilipinas head coach and Ateneo consultant Tab Baldwin. “They are very strong,” Baldwin told Tiebreaker Times after the game. “That’s an excellent basketball team and the scary thing is it’s just the preseason.”
Baldwin specifically praised first year La Salle head coach Aldin Ayo for the job he has done in making the Taft-based squad embrace his blue collar-style of basketball. “They’re physically mature and they are very well coached,” the 56 year old mentor furthered. “Aldin does a great job in developing his system and applying his philosophy. They (players) have total buy-in.”
“They are a well-oiled machine right now and it’s very early.”
Moreover, Baldwin believes that the Green Archers are the curve setters for all the collegiate teams right now in saying, “from what I’ve seen they are setting the bar right now and it’s up to the rest of us to raise ourselves to that level.”
In comparison, the American-Kiwi consultant believes that his team is miles away from what he expects the Blue Eagles to be. “We’ve got to start accelerating our development as a team to narrow the gap with that team before the UAAP starts,” he closed.
