In his three-year stay with the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons, Bo Perasol has never shown his frustration on the court. If he did, he made sure to do it in the locker room.
But in his 30th UAAP game with UP – against the Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles – Perasol blew his top. And it was because of a dangerous fall of one of his players that he saw as a foul.
With 6:56 left and UP down 62-73, Bright Akhuetie soared up in the air as he tried to dunk on William Navarro. The 6-foot-7 big man though was challenged by the Ateneo transferee, crashing down to the floor.
As he saw this, Perasol stormed to the court, confronting a referee. He was slapped with a disqualifying foul and was thrown out of the game.
The game was a double defeat for UP. Besides losing to the Blue Eagles 79-87, Perasol might be suspended for the Fighting Maroons’ game against the University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigers on Sunday.
And Perasol regretted what he did.
“I was emphasizing to my team about composure [prior to the game] and I apologized to them because I was the one who first lost it.
“No matter what happens, I think I had to be accountable to them. No matter how bad the calls are going to be, it’s going to happen,” shared Perasol.
Perasol could not believe the huge disparity in free throw shooting during the game. UP attempted just seven charities compared to an overwhelming 31 for Ateneo.
“I think it was an obvious call for me. First, I think it was just a… Sunod-sunod na eh. I think that Bright got fouled in there, then the landing spot. I don’t know what were in their minds but I wanted to make sure that they understand,” he asserted.
“I’m not going to stand in there and watch them lose because they are not calling it. We prepared hard for this and they have to understand that.
“I think they understand that. You can’t just be inefficient with what you do and let the other parties understand. We have to be efficient in what we do. Me as a coach? Hindi naman perfect yan e. Pero hindi dapat palagi,” expressed the affable tactician.
Still, Perasol was all praises for the fight that UP put up against the defending champions. Up until the last two minutes of the contest, the Fighting Maroons had a chance to turn back the Blue Eagles.
“Out of ten, I have to rate my team’s fight as a nine!
“I think we stopped fighting in the last seconds or maybe last one or two minutes but we were in the game last five minutes, we were down by just five points,” he beamed.
Besides this loss being part of the learning process for his team, it was also the same experience for the former Fighting Maroon.
“I just had to be better as a coach. I have to make sure that I will be with them during those times because this is just the second game.”
