La Salle to watch out for Tallo, SWU’s toughness in finals

LA SALLE coach Juno Sauler isn’t taking any chances when his Green Archers take on Cebu’s Southwestern University (SWU) in Game 1 of the Philippine Collegiate Champions League best-of-three finals today at the Filoil Flying V Arena.
The reigning UAAP men’s basketball champions are favored against the Cesafi runners-up on paper but Sauler knows the Cobras are capable of an upset.
“Southwestern is a very strong team,” Sauler said of the Cebuano team that shocked the Archers, 68-58, in the first game of the semifinals last week.
“They play very hard, they play tough. So we just have to review what we did wrong, see what we can take advantage of and hopefully, we can execute our game plan.”
Aside from SWU’s toughness, Sauler said the Archers need to keep in check Cobra guard Mark Tallo, the MVP in the Cesafi who had a brief stint with La Salle.
“He has improved a lot the last time I saw him,” Sauler said of Tallo, who also had a short-lived career with La Salle’s nemesis Ateneo. “He added another dimension to his game and that’s something we also have to watch out for.”
La Salle will lean on UAAP Finals MVP Jeron Teng and its bruising frontcourt players Norbert Torres, Jason Perkins and Arnold Van Opstal, who is expected to be the difference-maker since he missed the first outing against SWU due to an injury.
SWU coach Yayoy Alcoseba, meanwhile, expects to face a well-prepared La Salle side that is also looking for sweet revenge. And he knows how tough it’s going to get
“Baka tamabakan kami (We might get routed),” Alcoseba said in jest. “Going up against Manila teams is always very hard. Not only are they big, they’re like a machine. We’ll see what will happen.”
Serving as an appetizer to the finals is a benefit juniors game between Tiong Lian titlist Hope Christian High School and NCAA runner-up La Salle Green Hills at 2 p.m. /Correspondent Jonas Panerio with a report from the Inquirer