While Alvin Pasaol was in the midst of the greatest individual scoring explosion the UAAP has seen since 2002, Ben Mbala made sure to acknowledge the second-year University of the East Red Warrior during a dead ball.
“I told him to keep working,” said the reigning MVP, who is averaging a league-high 33.5 points per contest. “He did a great job.
“When a guy plays well, you have to acknowledge him. The guy played well.”
Pasaol’s 49-point explosion overshadowed Mbala’s UAAP-high of 39 points. And for the 22-year-old, games like these are what sports are all about: having fun while giving your all.
“It’s the game of basketball after all, just have fun,” said the Cameroonian national team standout. “We have to enjoy and I have to congratulate him for his career-high.”
Mbala then turned serious when asked about the Green Archers’ defense that allowed Pasaol to shoot at a high clip of 20-for-30 from the field.
“I feel like we didn’t do a good job in stopping him,” the second-year Green Archer said. “La Salle is a defensive team and for a guy to drop 49 on us…
“If a guy is in the zone, we have to take him out of the comfort zone.”
And come Sunday, Mbala and the Green Archers need to recalibrate their defense against their arch-rivals.
