It took a rivalry game to wake up the Green Archers.
And apparently, it took a fearless and ballsy rookie to show them where the switch was.
De La Salle spent most of the night wrestling with Ateneo before finally deciding, with about 6 minutes left, that this game was going to belong to Taft.
The Green Archers closed the door on the Blue Eagles, 83-76, and for the first time this season, the offense looked less like a team searching for answers and more like a team that had finally remembered what it was to play championship basketball.
Fluid. Aggressive. Connected.
And, importantly, a little bit mean.
THE guy who started the Archers transformation was Joaquin Tovera.
The rookie has already shown flashes of the kind of offensive audacity that makes coaches simultaneously smile and reach for the timeout button. Against Ateneo, he brought his full metal kit.
Tovera attacked the lane like he had somewhere else to be. The first step was quick, the changes of direction were nasty, and once he got a shoulder past the defender, good luck getting him out of the paint.
Then came the fourth quarter.
Ateneo had turned a 72-70 deficit into a one-possession fight, and suddenly the Blue Eagles were sniffing around for the knockout.
This is where La Salle could have wilted under pressure.
Instead, Tovera started solving problems Ateneo threw.
He got fouled twice in the backcourt, calmly split his free throws, and helped push La Salle ahead, 74-72, with four minutes remaining.
Then JC Macalalag got clipped while launching a three.
Three free throws.
Three makes.
77-72.
And then came the play that might have told us more about this La Salle team than any box-score number ever could.
Ateneo missed.
Mason Amos grabbed the rebound with one hand.
And then, because apparently the basketball gods have a sense of humor, the man Ateneo fans have spent plenty of time booing walked to the corner and buried a three off a crisp Jacob Cortez dish.
80-70.
Three minutes, four seconds remaining.
The MOA Arena erupted.
Amos didn’t say anything but flashed his usual three fingers.
He didn’t need to.
The shot did all the talking and the swish made the loudest statement.
Two minutes later, Jacob Cortez did the same thing.
Catch.
Set.
Shoot.
Splash.
83-72.
Game, essentially, over.
And suddenly, La Salle looked like contender La Salle again.
Not the La Salle that spent the opening games trying to find a three-point shot that seemed to have misplaced its GPS.
This was a different animal.
The Archers shot 45.5 percent from three, their best long-range performance of the season. They outrebounded Ateneo 44-38 and moved the ball for 20 assists, nearly twice the Blue Eagles’ 11.
JC Macalalag led the way with 15 points on an absurdly clean shooting line—4-of-6 from the field, 2-of-2 from three and 5-of-6 at the line—while adding two rebounds, two assists and two steals.
Tovera also finished with 15, attacking relentlessly while adding four rebounds and four assists.
Cortez quietly controlled the entire operation, finishing with 12 points, five assists and three rebounds. His +16 plus/minus was the best on the team, which feels appropriate for a player who spent the closing minutes making sure La Salle didn’t lose control of the game.
Doy Dungo gave the second unit another jolt with 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting, including 2-of-3 from deep, plus two steals.
And then there was Amos.
Six points.
Eight rebounds.
Three assists.
+10.
But, honestly, nobody is going to remember the box score.
They’re going to remember the rebound.
They’re going to remember the corner.
They’re going to remember the three.
Because sometimes a guy’s biggest contribution isn’t the number beside his name. It’s the moment when Mason Amos decides the game belongs to him.
For La Salle, this was more relevant than just a win over Ateneo.
It was solid and irrefutable evidence.
Evidence that the offense is beginning to churn.
Evidence that the young green guns aren’t afraid to sling their shots in the biggest of moments.
On Sunday, La Salle gets the opponent waiting at the other end of the Season 88 road: UP.
The Fighting Maroons are the finals opponent and is struggling after losing their Maroon 5. The stakes will be bigger. The margin for error will be smaller.
But after spending much of the season looking for its offensive identity, La Salle may have finally found something.
It took Ateneo to bring it out and a super rookie to ignite it.
And now the Green Archers get to find out whether this was a one-night explosion—or the beginning of championship run.
ANIMO LA SALLE!!!
