“Trust the process.”
A line made famous by the Philadelphia 76ers — the ultimate badge of faith in the middle of chaos. Back then, it meant tanking the season for first overall draft picks. At some point, it became the biggest NBA joke.
For La Salle, there’s no lottery ball waiting at the end of this storm.
Just questions. Heavy ones.
Because right now, the Green Archers aren’t tanking. They’re just… withering.
Let’s rewind to that soul-crushing Ateneo game, a memory that probably still hurts to think about.
La Salle trailed 64–33. Half the score. Half the energy. Half the spirit. Ateneo was playing like a metronome — crisp, fluid, inevitable — while La Salle looked like a team trying to remember their Wi-Fi password mid-game.
Through three quarters, the numbers were brutal. 19.6% shooting overall. 21.4% from deep. 18.8% from two. The Archers couldn’t throw a pebble into the neighboring Manila Bay if their lives depended on it. The Eagles ruled the skies and won the rebounding battle 37–33, and their one-year 24 year old recruits, Dom Escobar and Kymani Ladi, were turning the La Salle defense into static classroom chairs — dropping 15 and 13 points apiece.
Ateneo looked destined to cruise to an easy win, but something changed.
That mean green 4th quarter storm.
From 38–68, it was pure mayhem.
Maybe it was sheer La Sallian pride, maybe panic, maybe both.
Mason Amos, EJ Gollena, Motor Mike Phillips, Jacob Cortez, and Kean Baclaan ignited a furious 18–0 run. Suddenly, it was a ballgame at 56–68. Four minutes left.
The ghosts in green were alive again.
Ateneo held on — barely — 81–74. But La Salle had flipped the fourth-quarter switch like a team remembering their championship selves. They outscored Ateneo 36–13, shot 52%, and crashed the glass 17–4 in those final 12 minutes. At one point, it was 25–4 in that stretch.
A total demolition of the Blue Eagles.
So, did La Salle rediscover their lethal self? Or did Ateneo just blink?
That perhaps is an answer that only Coach Tab Baldwin and his Ateneo Eagles can answer.
And now we are treading at 2–2, barely hovering along .500, the heaviest question remains… can we still trust the process?
Let’s peel this onion with numbers that sting.
La Salle is dead last in free throw percentage at 55%. Sixth in 3-point shooting at 28%. Fifth in overall field goal accuracy at 39%. That’s a cocktail of offensive inefficiency you don’t want to sip if you’re a contender.
They’re second in assists — which sounds nice — until you realize they’re also last in perimeter scoring with just 23.25 points per game. That’s like building a house with no walls; the structure’s there, but everything leaks out. The question isn’t just if La Salle can create shots — it’s whether they’re even creating the right ones.
And then the individuals. The numbers tell their own stories:
- Mason Amos – the team’s steadiest stretch four Archer. Hitting 30% from three, 58% from two, and a perfect 100% from the line. Adds 3.25 boards per game. Calm, consistent, methodical and mechanical — the kind of consistent reliability this team desperately needs more of.
2. Doy Dungo – quietly this back-up point guard is the best shooter on the roster. 38% from three, 45% from two, for a 42% total FG clip. He’s not flashy, but his jumper? Pure smooth silk. His ability to rip the lane with speed, even more lethal.
3. Freethrows saga with Mike Phillips and Luis Pablo – the paint enforcers who turn to pumpkins at the stripe. 39% and 27% from the line, respectively. You can’t build consistent offense when your bigs can’t cash freebies.
4. One Man Rebounding Machine – Phillips is a monster with 16 a game. Pablo trails with 4.25, then it’s Cortez and Gollena at 3.5 each. It’s Mike’s world on the glass; everyone else is just chipping in loose change.
5. Surprise Top Playmaker – Nope, it is not the BAC-CORT combo. It is Motor Mike leading the team with 5.25 assists per game, more than Cortez at 3. It’s almost poetic — your slashing big doing the play creation work because of his gravity in forcing double teams.
But it also screams one thing: the offense isn’t flowing through the guards.
These questions only multiplied with the numbers.
Still, if you’ve followed the Coach Topex Archers long enough, you know the script.
Rough starts before reaching a galvanizing point.
Remember Season 86, the third game against UE — La Salle looked just as wobbly going into the season. Then, like a switch being thrown, everything aligned. Defense tightened, shots dropped, swagger returned. And the rest? History. The championship.
So maybe that’s where we are again. Same scene, different season.
Teetering between unimaginable chaos and distant clarity.
Maybe the process hasn’t failed — it’s just late to the dance.
Trust the process.
Even if, right now, it feels like blind faith.
ANIMO LA SALLE!
