MANILA — The De La Salle Green Archers are finally back in the UAAP men’s basketball finals after six long years.

The Taft-based squad, whose last championship appearance was in 2017, eliminated the National University Bulldogs on Saturday to mark their return to the promised land.

There, they will be up against the top-seeded University of the Philippines in a best-of-3 series to determine the UAAP Season 86 champions.

Green Archers head coach Topex Robinson understands that they now have a tough task to complete especially since they are up against a UP squad that will be entering their third straight finals appearance.

That is why despite their hot streak, La Salle is now quickly shifting its focus towards their Katipunan-based counterparts.

“Those nine games are already done and over with,” he commented, referring to their winning streak entering the finals series. “It brought us to the finals, but it's not gonna define this championship.”

“We know UP, they've been here for the longest time, they have a great team and we just wanna keep on competing against the best. Whatever happens, we're going to come here as somebody from the outside.”

Following their win against NU, Robinson joins an elite group of La Salle mentors who reached the UAAP Finals in just their first year as head coach -- a group that includes champion coaches Franz Pumaren, Juno Sauler, and Aldin Ayo.

But for Robinson, aside from winning a title and putting his name alongside the trio, what matters to him is how far his presence can guide the Green Archers.

“When I took this job, I told them that it's either you win a championship or you die trying. If you're representing a program that's rich with tradition, you're putting in a situation to honor the things and the players that came before you,” he said.

“I'm just so grateful for the opportunity to represent DLSU. The championships that they have won, I just told them that we're not a part of it. We will etch our own names in that rich tradition, and we have the opportunity now.”

“That's why we want to make sure that we take care of that opportunity and not just go down. We'll die swinging. We're just going to give a good fight to UP.”

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