For the last four seasons, Mike Phillips has been the one constant in Taft. The Green Archers have cycled through stars and lineups, but their identity has always been built around Phillips’ relentlessness — a physical motor that doesn’t quit, a body that eats rebounds like popcorn. With Kevin Quiambao gone, that Mike Phillips heartbeat is louder than ever.
This is certainly Mike’s Green Archers now, and the next chapter of La Salle basketball begins with him holding the paint while a new cast reshapes the perimeter.
Season 87: The Blueprint of the Future
Last season, La Salle may not have retained the UAAP crown, but they surely dominated in their own gritty, jagged, and chaotic way:
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- 74.21 points per game — the highest in the league.
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- 20.79 assists per game — ball movement as a weapon.
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- 30.27% from three — the UAAP’s best.
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- 63.92 points allowed per game — second stingiest defense.
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- 22.36% opponent 3PT allowed — nobody shut down the arc better.
But it wasn’t all smooth. La Salle coughed up a horrendous 19.43 turnovers per game — a stat that drove coaches insane — and leaned heavily on the versatility of Season 87 MVP. When Kevin Quiambao packed his bags from Taft to Seoul, so did 16.6 points, 8.8 rebounds, and 4 assists per game — production that doesn’t grow on trees.
Along with him, La Salle lost:
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- Joshua David (6.0 PPG, 5.8 RPG, 4.2 APG) — a glue guy who did a bit of everything. Can defend, snipe from downtown, and was a prime piece in La Salle’s perimeter D.
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- CJ Austria (3.1 PPG, 2.0 RPG, 2.5 APG) — a steady role player and a defensive menace and just a pest to the opponent’s star player.
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- Alex Konov (0.8 PPG in 8 games) — a hyped big man with smooth shooting touch who never quite found his rhythm.
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- Raven Cortez – (5.64 PPG, 3.5 RPG) a reliable rim protector with a decent midrange touch. The Archers certainly lost some depth in the middle with Cortez’s departure
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- Matt Rubico — a deep rotation guard whose 21 minutes hinted at untapped potential.
In other words: the spine of last year’s roster walked out the door. Season 87 was the peak of one version of the Green Archers. Season 88 is the birth of another.
The New Green Archers
This offseason, La Salle didn’t just reload. They rewired and boosted.
- Jacob Cortez: From being a San Beda stalwart to Taft’s premiere guard, this scoring guard, son of the legendary Mike “The Cool Cat” Cortez, plays with a fearless fourth-quarter gene. At the NCAA, he averaged double digits and showed he could take over games late. He’s the shot creator La Salle lacked last year when all options down low were totally shut down.
- Kean Baclaan: The NU floor general who averaged 11 points and 4 assists with the Bulldogs. Shifty, patient, and capable of toggling between facilitator and scorer, he’s the perfect partner for Cortez in the backcourt.
- Mason Amos: The former blue big man who can stretch the floor and a demon of a rebounder. In Season 86, he averaged 7.1 points on nearly 40% shooting, and in the offseason, he kept proving he can punish teams that sag off him.
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- Luis Pablo: A blue-collar bruiser from UP’s pipeline. At 6’6, he thrives in the dirty work — offensive boards, putbacks, interior defense. Not flashy, but essential.
On paper, this isn’t just reinforcements. It’s adding significant depth. The Green Archers might be younger, but they’re also deeper, faster, and more versatile.
The Holdovers: Taft’s Unsung Wing Squadron
The new names draw the headlines, but the holdovers may decide how high La Salle flies.
- EJ Gollena: An energizer guard who can stretch the floor and hound on defense. His spot-up shooting gives the backcourt more balance.
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- Vhoris Marasigan: Length, defense, and rebounding. The bruiser and physical kid who can chuck it from the perimeter or barrel inside. The kind of versatile forward who doesn’t need plays run for him but impacts every possession with his ability to create.
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- JC Macalalag: An uber athletic stabilizer in the starting line-up and has proven to be solid on both ends, with a low mistake rate and veteran composure.
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- Earl Abadam: His absence late in Season 87 was the biggest could-have-been as the Green Archers were one shot creator away from title retention. Abadam’s explosiveness and energy, and his being unafraid of big moments, make him a staple in Coach Topex’s rotation. He thrives in a fast-paced system, exactly what this guard-heavy team needs.
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- Doys Dungo: At 6’2”, he’s the quiet weapon. Defensive presence inside, rim protection, and rebounding. He has displayed his sweet 3-point stroke as his ability to slice through traffic using sheer speed and finesse. If he makes a leap, La Salle’s backcourt depth looks scary.
These aren’t just role players—they’re the connective tissue. They know the system, they’ve logged the minutes, and now they get a bigger slice of responsibility.
WUBS 2025: Taft Goes Global
If the new faces were theoretical on paper, their return to the World University Basketball Series in Japan in their title defense quest, turned them into reality.
The Green Archers didn’t tiptoe through Tokyo — they played like a team already in midseason form. They defended international opponents into submission, holding teams under 40% shooting across the tournament. They battered the glass with a plus-10 rebounding margin. And at the center of it all was Mike Phillips, the tournament’s quiet destroyer: 12 points, 13 rebounds, 2 blocks per game, the same consistency he’s brought every night since his UAAP debut.
But the real buzz came from how quickly the new blood clicked.
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- Cortez cooked international guards in isolation. His 12-point fourth quarter in one game was straight takeover mode.
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- Baclaan dropped 6 assists per game, turning possessions into fast breaks before defenses could blink. His tempo control made La Salle look smoother than any preseason team has a right to.
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- Amos stretched defenses thin, drilling 40% from deep. When opponents collapsed on Phillips, Amos made them pay.
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- Pablo was the muscle, grabbing 4 offensive rebounds per game, flipping possessions, and bruising his way to momentum-changing putbacks.
WUBS wasn’t messy. It wasn’t clunky. It looked like a finished product being tested against global competition. Their ability to hold leads at crunch time was tested to its limits.
But that has been the story: La Salle’s chemistry, the new and old, is ahead of schedule. The preseason didn’t raise more questions. It gave clear and definite answers.
A New Identity
So here we are: the post-KQ era. Some familiar faces are gone, but La Salle has retooled with a backcourt that can do more than just facilitate. These dudes can now score and create, to provide the right spacing for a frontline that can space and bruise, and the centerpiece in Phillips who ties it all together.
Last year, the Green Archers were a walking contradiction — a turnover machine that also led the league in assists, a team that could frustrate on offense but suffocate on defense.
This year, they look like something else: balanced.
Deeper.
Maybe even scarier.
Outlook: What Comes Next
La Salle enters Season 88 with something rare in the UAAP — both a proven identity and a reloaded roster. They’ve got the best rebounder in the league in Mike Phillips, a backcourt that can finally snake through defenses in Cortez and Baclaan, and new weapons in Amos and Pablo who fit perfectly around that steady green core.
The metrics from last year already tell the story: best scoring offense, top defense against the three, league leader in assists. Add more shot creation and spacing, and the Green Archers suddenly have fewer weaknesses to poke at.
The questions are familiar:
Can they cut down turnovers?
Can the newcomers carry their preseason flashes into the UAAP grind?
Can Phillips endure the pounding when every opponent throws their best bigs at him?
But there’s no mistaking the trajectory. The post-KQ era isn’t a step back. If anything, it feels like a significant leap forward — a deeper, faster, more versatile version of the green and white team that went 12–2 last season.
The Archers don’t just want to compete. They want to own Season 88. And Sept 19 is when that mission begins.
ANIMO LA SALLE!
(some photos courtesy of UAAP Varsity Channel / ABS CBN)
