Friday, September 14, 2007

Historic

There is no other word I can describe the feat the University of the East Red Warriors has made last night other than the title.

Battling against a formidable foe, the Warriors swept the elimination round with 14 wins and undefeated. The last win came against the DLSU Green Archers, the kind of game I would describe as something like I-should-have-been-there skirmish between two teams who have a great chance of meeting again in the finals.

Except of course, the La Salle has to wade through the semifinals. The Warriors has earned themselves a rare reward by nailing the automatic championship berth when the final buzzer sounded in a game that went into overtime.

The Green Archers had the opportunity to deny victory to the opposing team, but it was all in the hands of their main guy JV Casio, who missed one of the pair of free throws in the dying seconds of the regulation. The game was tied at 77-77. And it was all UE all the way into the overtime. The Warriors trampled the Archers, 92-84 the final score.

Early in the game, there was a punch thrown and absorbed a minute left in the first quarter. A player was ejected, technical fouls were given out to both teams, but the commotion between competing players didn't stop the history from unfolding.

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Warriors' Tale

Dindo Pumaren must be happy right now, and at the same time really nervous.

The University of the East Red Warriors are two games shy of sweeping the elimination round of the UAAP. They are the remaining team in the most celebrated collegiate basketball tournament that hasn’t tasted a loss. And if they continue to fire up the feat and turn out victors of the next and their last two games, they would catapult themselves straight into the Finals.

But it’s no easy task for Coach Pumaren and his roster of cagers. They still have to cruise past against winless University of the Philippine Fighting Maroons and the current second placer with 9-3 win-loss card, the La Salle Green Archers.

Winning those two would complement an astounding tale.

And in the end, winning the championship would mean putting the icing on the cake.

Let’s wait and see how the Warriors write the tale’s ending.