AFTER last season’s heartbreak, La Salle is back in the UAAP men’s basketball Final Four.

Currently the hottest team in the league by winning their last five games, the Green Archers are looking good at this stage of the season.

La Salle cruised past Adamson, 69-57, on Wednesday night to improve to 8-3 in third place.

First-year coach Topex Robinson achieved what his predecessor Derrick Pumaren failed to do last season with three games left to spare in the eliminations.

It was some sort of revenge for the Green Archers, aa they were eliminated by the Falcons in the playoff for the No. 4 spot last season that led to Pumaren’s relief as head coach.

“We’re just so grateful and blessed to be in this situation right now that we’re in,” said Robinson. “These guys just never, never gave us. It was really hard coming off that game against UP. They never took a break. They just kept on grinding. Guys are hurt but they just said so be it.

With the Final Four in the bag, Mike Phillips is not just contented as they wanted to go deeper this season.

“Masaya po kami at nakapasok kami sa Final Four. But this is just the beginning. We don’t want to get too high for this,” said Phillips.

Written off after their early season struggles, the Green Archers were able to redeem themselves in this winning run.

“I guess these guys were challenged during the times we were struggling. Instead of them looking for other excuses, they just responded,” said Robinson.

“They know how hard it is to represent DLSU. They know the struggles that they have been through. What’s important to us is we just kept our circle is solid. When we lost to Ateneo in the first round, it really hurt us. But it also bonded us,” he added.

The Green Archers are also very much in the hunt for one of two twice-to-beat slots in the Final Four.

La Salle, which will face University of the East on Sunday, is just trailing joint first placers University of the Philippines and National University (9-2) by a game.

Ranged against a Red Warriors fighting for their Final Four lives, Robinson is looking forward for his Green Archers to be ready in their preparations for the bigger battles ahead.

“It doesn’t matter who we gonna play. Our focus, 100 percent, is how we gonna get better. We always focus on ourselves and how we gonna improve. It’s going to be tough battle moving forward,” said Robinson.