Entering the 81st season of the UAAP, expectations were high for the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons. With the generalship of Paul Desiderio, the growth of Juan Gomez de Liano, and the arrival of Bright Akhuetie, the Fighting Maroons were going to be a force to be reckoned with… on paper.
However, the Fighting Maroons have not matched expectations to start their campaign. Their loss to the Ateneo Blue Eagles was understandable, while their defeat to the FEU Tamaraws was lackadaisical. Last October 4, however, UP melted away against the Adamson Soaring Falcons before suffering a heartbreaker.
“That was a painful loss for us against Adamson. The first thing that’s going to be taken away from you when you lose successively is the confidence. That’s something that is very difficult to get back,” reflected third-year UP head coach Bo Perasol.
“The only way to get that back is to win.”
Sunday afternoon, Juan Gomez de Liano and the Fighting Maroons did not allow themselves to have another meltdown against the 11-man De La Salle University Green Archers. Though La Salle almost scored a late-game hijack, UP were up to weather the stand.
“Now, I think we all know that our end game… There is much to be desired with how we ended up the game. But then again, we can’t forget the fact that we won it,” shared Perasol. “We would have wanted to be better in the end game, but then again, probably we needed these kind of wins, so we would know how to be better.”
With the victory, UP are now 2-3 in the standings, good for solo fifth but still below-par from what was expected by many. But for Perasol, the wins and the losses are all part of the greater scheme of things for these young men.
“Mukhang ‘di na kami maka-ano sa tension tsaka sa pressure. We’re dead serious about what we want to happen – to improve in our standing.
“But life happens. And sometimes, it’s … you can’t just microwave growth eh. We need to grow through losing, we need to grow in a painful way. But in the end, if we get that, we have to be wiser and we have to be better in the end of this season,” he closed.
