UNIVERSITY of Santo Tomas and defending champ De La Salle face separate foes as they both gun for a 3-0 start at the UAAP Season 87 men's basketball tournament at the Mall of Asia Arena on Sunday. The Growling Tigers face the 1-1 Adamson Soaring Falcons at 3:30 p.m., while the reigning champs Green Archers battle archrivals and 0-2 Ateneo Blue Eagles at 6:30 p.m. With the infusion of star playmaker Forth Padrigao, life has been pumped for last season's cellar-dweller UST, which joined La Salle at the top with a 2-0 slate to start the new season. The Growling Tigers dispatched the UE Red Warriors on September 8, 70-55, and the Ateneo Blue Eagles on September 11 for an auspicious start. A 2-0 start to a 14-game elimination round is a small sample for the Growling Tigers to conclude anything, but coach Pido Jarencio is glad that they have banked on a couple of wins this early that could go a long way down the stretch. "It's still a long way to go — only two games in the first round. We still have the second round, but it's great to have banked some wins. We need to stay grounded and know that we haven't actually achieved anything yet," said Jarencio. "The battles are going to be more intense in the second round, but at least we pocketed some wins already. Our goal is to take it one game at a time and make the Final Four." Meanwhile, the Green Archers opened the season with a 78-75 escape of the NU Bulldogs on September 8 and a 30-point, 82-52 rout of Adamson on September 11. La Salle coach Topex Robinson acknowledged the rivalry game ahead of his team but stressed that the Archers are focused on improving themselves. "We always remind ourselves: the always important game is the game in front of us. It just so happens it's Ateneo this coming Sunday, but we'll definitely bring what we learned from this. We made a lot of mistakes, we committed a lot of turnovers, so that's one thing we're gonna focus on," said Robinson. "We'll always respect the team. It doesn't matter who we're gonna play; we'll always make sure we focus on the things we have control of, and that's us. We make sure we will respect and honor this game that's been good to us by the way we play." At press time on Saturday, the NU Bulldogs (0-1) were battling the FEU Tamaraws (0-1), while the UP Fighting Maroons (1-0) were battling the UE Red Warriors (0-1).