National University and University of Santo Tomas fought out a pulsating 77-76 overtime game in the UAAP Season 86 Women’s Basketball Tournament Sunday at the SM Mall of Asia Arena, but the events after the game were as interesting as the action that preceded them.
When the final buzzer marked the Lady Bulldogs’ victory, both squads did not exchange pleasantries.
Soon after, the NU and UST staff engaged in a verbal altercation on their way to their respective locker rooms just before coach Aris Dimaunahan, Ann Pingol, and Tin Cayabyab took part in the post-game press conference.
Big games in the UAAP can be heated as there are times when emotions boil over even after the final buzzer has sounded. Despite the incident, Dimaunahan and Growling Tigresses coach Haydee Ong focused on the action on the court.
“It was a highly emotional, highly physical, and quality basketball (game) that we had this morning,” said Dimaunahan, who had a spat with one of Ong’s assistant coaches. “If you remember before the season started, I told you guys that UST was the team to beat.
“That’s why we really prepared hard for them. We know their strengths. It’s always hard to play a team that has a lot of heart (and) a lot of effort.”
“I think NU’s better today,” said Ong, who scolded her players after the game for not exchanging post-game pleasantries with NU.
“That’s it. We had chances but we didn’t close them.
Sports in general can provoke strong emotions because the competition between individual athletes and teams and be too volatile. There are situations where players and teams get into each other’s skin to the point that there may be incidents that happen during and after games.
It can be hard at times for players and coaches to keep a cool head but they have no other choice. They need to not only go for a win but represent their schools well in the UAAP.
“Just reminding them of the job to do,” said Dimaunahan. “Whatever other schools are doing, we just mind our own turf. We mind our own system. It’s almost always we talk about how we conduct ourselves during game time (and) every single situation.
“Yun lang ang message namin sa mga players namin — to just focus on what we do and get better at what we do.”
For Ong, who once served as the national team coach, it was important for everyone to be respectful of each other. At the end of the day, each of them is doing their part to grow women’s basketball in the country.
Any incident may push back the development. Definitely, scuffles and altercations may happen but they should not escalate into a full-blown fight between teams.
“I talked to the NU players as well,” she said. “I told them like it was a very good game. We have to respect each other. We’re only competitors inside the court pero paglabas, dapat we respect each other.
“Yun lang bottomline dito. We are all playing the sport that we love — basketball — so kailangan may respeto. With regards sa team ko, of course, it was a heavy loss for us. We should have won the game. Talagang inano ko lang yung mga bata na you played really well. Yun lang, we didn’t close and we still have a long way to go for this season.”
Now that the game was over, both teams simply wanted to move on after this game. NU understood that, while it nailed a big win over a fellow championship contender, it should not rest on its laurels.
On the other hand, this defeat may sting for UST but it knew that all was not lost and that it may have a chance to get a first win over the defending champions for the first time since Season 75.
“All of the schools in the UAAP, that’s the good thing about our tournament, walang mahina rito,” said Dimaunahan.
“Lahat are given credits because everybody is working hard on a daily basis. Wala ritong ay mahina si ganito. Everybody here is capable of beating anybody right here. That’s why we really have to be prepared for our next game and the games coming after that.”
“We have to be mentally tough actually,” said Ong.
“I think yun yung kulang namin today na nakita ko. They scored how many points nung third and yung lead hinabol naman namin unti-unti. Kaya naman namin eh. I think yun lang. We need to be mentally tough to get over the hump against NU.”
