Misfortunes befell on the Archers one after another to the shock of the De La Salle fans as the UE Red Warriors halted the defending champs' winning run, 68-62, as both squads closed their respective first round stints last August 2 at the Araneta Coliseum.

    With three Green Archers suddenly nursing various injuries when the smoke of battle cleared, the Warriors, playing choking defense and anchoring their offense on fastbreak attacks, finally pulled one over the Archers, their tormentors in the Finals last season.

    Seeing its run stopped at five games, La Salle dropped to a 5-2 win-loss record in second position while UE climbed to fourth spot with its 4-3 slate.

    The two are behind Ateneo and Far Eastern University, which continue to share the top spot at 5-1.

    James Martinez showed the way for the Warriors with 19 points and seven rebounds.

    He combined for 13 points with Hans Thiele in the first quarter as they led UE to a 19-15 advantage.

    For almost two minutes, both teams were scoreless when things suddenly started turning bad for La Salle.

    Simon Atkins was trying to keep Warrior Rudy Lingganay from scoring when he suddenly took a bad fall, and banged his head on the hardcourt floor during a collision.

    As medics carried Atkins away on a stretcher, the Warriors began taking charge with Elmer Espiritu scoring UE's first two points of the game with a drive with 7:48 to go.

    (Dr. Alex Ayco, who happens to be watching the game, got to examine Atkins, and said he suffered from a whiplash injury on his spine. A CT scan at the Makati Medical Center showed that no major injury occurred during the fall. "He is OK so far. He had whiplash.It's minor.").

    After Marko Batrivcevic struck with a trey, Thiele replied with a pair drives and a split free throw to put the Warriors in front, 7-3.

    "Its just a matter of how they played. They played good, we played bad," said coach Franz Pumaren after the game.

    As UE began countering La Salle's half-court offense with their pressure defense, the Warriors began dictating the pace in the second period adfter Paul Lee and Martinez unloaded a pair of triples which gave the Warriors a 25-19 lead with 7:39 to go.

    The Green Archers fell further behind by nine, 30-21, off Paul Zamar;s three-pointer with 4:40 left.

    "Ito ang nilalaro namin sa pre-season. That's why sabi nila, malakas kami," said UE coach Dindo Pumaren.

    The Warriors' defense limited top scorer JV Casio to nine points, and he was scoreless in the last period, and kept Rico Maierhofer down to a measly three points.

    La Salle tried charging back, but James Mangahas, who led with 14 points and eight boards, was temporarily rendered out of commission with 3:40 left when he hurt his ankle while trying to stop Pari Llagas from scoring.

    With Mangahas out of the way near the end of the half, UE went on to nurse a 39-31 halftime advantage following Martinez's putback in the last five ticks.

    "The injuries, they were throwing us out of rotation," said Franz.

    In the third canto, UE moved out of range by 14, off two treys from Martinez and another one from Lingganay, handing the Warriors 52-38 spread with 3:07 left.

    UE's lead went up to 16, 62-46, when Zamar drove in twice in the last two second of the third.

    La Salle then made one last bid to come back, and they almost did in the remaining 6:04 when the 6'2  Maierhofer forced his way underneath, and assisted Mangahas for a drive twice, and LA Revilla to another basket to threaten, 56-64.

    But the Green Archers lost their momentum in the last 4:50 when Maierhofer fell on the court for a long period of time with a hurt knee following a bad landing during a rebound scramble.

    UE went on to maintain their advantage afterwards, with Thiele unloading another triple with 3:28 to go to give the Warriors a 69-56 spread.

    "I told told the boys to be ready in the fourth quarter. May mga spurts yan. Meron nga, iyung sunud-sunod na layup. All easy baskets. Iyun pa naman ang game plan namin, na huwag magbibigay ng easy baskets," remarked Dindo.

- Cesar Concio 

- Photos contributed by: Kring Artrero   

The scores:

    UE 68-Martinez 19, Tamar 12, Thiele 11, Lee 7, Llagas 6, Reyes 4, Espiritu 4, Lingganay 3, Arellano 2, Noble 0, Etrone 0.

    La Salle 62-- Mangahas 14, Revilla 10, Casio 9, Villanueva 8, Barua 6, Bagatsing 4, Maierhofer 3, Walsham 2, Malabes 2, Webb 1, Atkins 0.

    Quarterscores: 19-15, 39-31, 62-46, 68-62