Ateneo’s Mike Nieto might no longer be big in frame, he is still comes up big when the Blue Eagles need him most.
Seeing less minutes in his third season, Nieto was arguably the Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles’ best player on Sunday evening, in their Final Four encounter with the Far Eastern University Tamaraws. The versatile swingman complied 13 points built on three triples and four rebounds, three of which came off the offensive glass.
However, Nieto’s output was not enough, as the rest of the Blue Eagles were shackled by the Tamaraws’ focused defense, leading to their second straight loss of the season, 67-80.
The junior Atenean thinks that their loss to rivals La Salle last week had shaken them. Missing out on an outright ticket to the Finals, the Blue Eagles suddenly felt immense pressure.
“Medyo, siyempre na-pressure din kami in the loss against La Salle. But wala eh. Ganoon lang talaga eh,” Nieto said. “Well siguro wala eh, hindi kami naglaro kanina. We weren’t in the moment.
“We didn’t enjoy the game a while ago and we just have to bounce back and get back to our winning ways, come Wednesday’s game.”
Nieto, who has been the young Eagles’ voice, concedes that the Blue Eagles are incredibly blessed to have had a twice-to-beat advantage. Now, they need to show why they were the top team out of the elimination round on Wednesday.
“Papakita namin sa Wednesday bakit kami nag 13-1.
“Siguro laking tulong din naman and we deserved that 13-1 record kasi nga, yun nga, kung ‘di kami nasa Top 2, tanggal na kami sa Final Four,” he declared.
