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| Ateneo looks to stay alive in the Final 4 race against La Salle. UAAP Season 88 Media Team (file photo) |
MANILA--De La Salle aims to secure the remaining Final Four berth and crush Ateneo’s hopes of staying alive for the No. 4 spot in a high-stakes UAAP Season 88 Collegiate Men’s Basketball rivalry showdown on Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The Green Archers will be down one player, as EJ Gollena serves a one-game suspension, but they remain determined to avoid a playoff in the 4:30 p.m. clash against the Blue Eagles.
Far Eastern University, meanwhile, must hurdle Final Four-bound University of Santo Tomas in the 2 p.m. contest and hope Ateneo can upset De La Salle to force a two-way playoff for the last slot.
The final gameday of the eliminations serves as the make-up for the postponed Nov. 9 fixtures due to Super Typhoon “Uwan.”
De La Salle moved a step closer to a third straight Final Four appearance after defeating defending champion University of the Philippines, 87-82, last Saturday.
“Just like how we approached this game, we forgot what was at stake, and coming off a two-game losing streak, we threw it all out the window and focused on every possession. For sure, it's always gonna be talked about [and] there's going to be a lot of pressure, but what's important for us is to prepare for the battle," said La Salle head coach Topex Robinson.
"What's good about this is kahit nasaang position ka, if it's gonna be Ateneo vs La Salle, it's always gonna be a grind-out game. For us, we have to also fix a lot of stuff [because] we made a lot of mistakes in our game today, so just like what Mike [Phillips] said, as much as you celebrate that, you have to move forward. It's gonna be an exciting end of the elimination game for us against Ateneo, so it's gonna be fun,” said head coach Topex Robinson.
The Green Archers sit alone in fourth place at 7-6, a game ahead of the Tamaraws and Blue Eagles, both at 6-7.
The fourth-ranked team after the eliminations will face top-seed National University (11-3) in the Final Four, with the Bulldogs holding a twice-to-beat advantage. NU has swept De La Salle, FEU, and Ateneo in their elimination round matchups.
A Green Archers win over the Blue Eagles, coupled with a Growling Tigers victory over the Tamaraws, would finalize the Final Four cast, setting up NU-De La Salle and UP-UST duels for spots in the best-of-three Finals.
A rematch between Ateneo and De La Salle for fourth place will happen if the Blue Eagles beat the Green Archers and the Growling Tigers eliminate the Tamaraws from the Final Four race.
If the Tamaraws beat the Growling Tigers while Ateneo defeats De La Salle, two playoffs will determine the No. 4 team.
The three teams would finish with identical 7-7 records and be ranked accordingly.
The first playoff would feature the No. 5 versus No. 6 teams, with the winner facing the No. 4 squad in a do-or-die game for the final spot.
Ateneo head coach Tab Baldwin hopes his team has learned from the first-round matchup, where De La Salle rallied from 33 points down before falling short.
The Blue Eagles won, 81-74, for their fourth straight victory last Oct. 5.
“In a way, I think La Salle helped us a lot by fighting back in that game and not giving up because they gave a template to other teams to try to extend pressure. It's something that we realized we had to work on, so we got much better at that. I certainly don't think that the character of the next game with La Salle is going to look like that one. I would imagine that it'll be a tough, closely fought, competitive game. But you have to take learnings out of every game," said Baldwin.
"This has been a season that I told the team before the game, if we were not so consumed by results, this has been a season where we've put on a lot of performances that could have come out as wins. This team could be 8-4 right now just as easily as it is before the game 5-7. A couple of made shots, injury situations, a couple of calls by the refs, things can be different. But it isn't the way it is, and the results are what we have to live with. Now we go into this last game knowing that there's only one thing that matters, and it is not the performance, it is the result," the decorated head coach continued.
"But I think that we have confidence from the fact that we have played so many games that could have been wins. I know that the fans don't see that and really feel that, but it's something that we're acutely aware of when you break games down, and you look at the data. I think we are a team that has a real chance to move forward in this competition and into the playoffs."
Regardless of their result against FEU, UST is assured of the No. 3 spot and holds the tiebreaker over De La Salle if the two teams finish tied at 8-6.
The Growling Tigers will face the twice-to-beat Fighting Maroons in the Final Four for the second straight season, and the third since their epic 2019 step-ladder duel.
In a joint statement, UAAP Board of Trustees members Fr. Roberto Yap, SJ of Ateneo, and Br. Bernard Oca, FSC of La Salle, urged the community to wear white at Wednesday’s La Salle-Ateneo game as a peaceful show of unity against corruption.
“Lasallians and Ateneans are united in our unwavering commitment to truth, integrity, and service to the Filipino nation. We stand as one at the La Salle-Ateneo Men's Basketball Game on Wednesday, 26 November 2025, which was originally scheduled on 9 November 2025. We encourage everyone attending the game to wear white as a peaceful expression of solidarity for transparency and accountability in public service,” the statement read.
In the women’s division, UST seeks to complete a 14-game elimination sweep and jump straight to the Finals against FEU, which aims not only to force a playoff with Adamson for the No. 4 spot but also to avoid a step-ladder format at 12 noon.
Ateneo, preparing for either the step-ladder or traditional Final Four, faces also-ran La Salle at 7 p.m.
The Lady Tamaraws (6-7) trail the Lady Falcons (7-7) by half a game. A loss to the Tigresses would end their season, which had shown promise until a late-elimination slump.
A UST win would trigger a stepladder format for the last championship berth, where defending champion and No. 2 NU would face the winner between No. 3 Ateneo and the fourth-ranked team to determine the other finalist.
“Actually, pinapa-remind ko sa mga bata 'yon na we don't take any teams lightly this season -- we have to give our best. Tama ka na for Wednesday, win-or-go-home na ang FEU for their Final Four [hopes] so they'll do their best because their back is against the wall. I think importante malaman ng mga bata 'yon na it's equally important yung game namin for Wednesday,” head coach Haydee Ong said.
In 16U action, UST and FEU-Diliman dispute the No. 2 spot in the step-ladder round at 9:30 a.m. NU-Nazareth earned an outright Finals berth after an impressive 14-0 perfect elimination run.
Adamson finished fourth at 8-6. The Baby Falcons will face the loser of the Tiger Cubs-Baby Tamaraws duel in the first step-ladder round.
