La Salle Green Archers coach Dindo Pumaren believes that their bid for a Final Four berth in the UAAP remains attainable despite their crushing defeat to bitter rival Ateneo last Sunday.

"What's nice for us is nasa kamay pa rin namin ang chance to make it to the Final Four," said Pumaren.

"We have four games and the positive thing is that we still have a chance."

Despite their bright prospects of gaining a semis berth, Pumaren lamented the team’s stinging 74-57 defeat to the Eagles.

“It was a nightmare,” rued Pumaren as his boys were totally dominated by the fired-up Eagles squad.

"We had a bad start and we didn't play La Salle basketball," said Pumaren. "We forgot our defensive assignments maybe because of the excitement. Pero ang crucial dun is yung bad start."

"First half pa lang nawala na and we didn't get our rhythm. I thought the boys would dictate the tempo but it was the other way around," he added.

Ateneo coach Norman Black made the right things all throughout in avenging their crushing 66-63 loss in the first round last July 24.

"Probably we did a better job against their perimeter shooters. We cut down on their three-point shots made," said Black. "Other than that, I think we did a better job breaking their press, particularly in the first three quarters."

With a 6-4 slate, the Archers can’t afford to be complacent since National University (4-6) and University of the Easy (3-6) are still in the thick of the fight for the third and fourth semis berths.

And the Archers face another tough test on Saturday as they go up against league-leading Far Eastern University, which already secured the first Final Four berth with a 9-1 record.

"FEU is the No.1 team and the others are ahead of us in the standings like Ateneo and Adamson but we have to play well and bring back the aggressiveness as well," Pumaren said.

Ateneo climbed up to solo second spot with eight wins and two losses while Adamson slipped to third at 7-3 following a shock 71-63 defeat to University of the East last Saturday.