Derrick Pumaren has earned an opportunity to settle some unfinished business now that he’s back in the PBA D-League Aspirants’ Cup Finals.
The veteran mentor steered EcoOil-La Salle to the championship round by giving Adalem Construction-St. Clare the boot in the semis Wednesday, marking as well his return to the conference’s Last Dance for the second time in a row.
“I’m happy to be here,” he said moments after the Green Archers’ dominant 97-74 conquest of the Saints at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
Pumaren bannered the previous Aspirants’ Cup Finals back in 2019, when he was still handling a Centro Escolar University side that made headlines.
It could be remembered that the PBA champion coach manned a Scorpions crew that only had seven players after the school gave ‘nine to 10 players’ the pink slip due to game-fixing allegations in another league.
Still, he was able to make do with what he had. They beat Go for Gold-St. Benilde in the quarters before downing, coincidentally, St. Clare-Virtual Reality in the semis to reach the title bout, where they bowed to Cignal-Ateneo.
Now, Pumaren has another shot at the crown, earning so following a masterful conquest of Adalem-St. Clare to book the first trip to the finale.
“We showed our pride today, our Animo pride that we can’t just lose against St. Clare,” he said. “Not taking anything away–my hats off to St. Clare, they really played hard, but we just have to show our dominance against this team.”
And it’s safe to suggest that he likes his chances of getting the gold this time around due to one obvious difference with his team now.
“I had only had seven players playing then,” said Pumaren, drawing laughter from those in attendance at the postgame press conference.
Turning serious, the former national team head coach hopes to have a complete and healthy lineup for the best-of-three title series against Marinerong Pilipino, with guards such as Mark Nonoy and Jan Macalalag hit with injuries.
“Hopefully I get a full lineup in the Finals,” said Pumaren.
