Heading into Tuesday, Jose Rizal University had lost five games so far in the season.
And it was not for lack of intensity on both sides of the court.
The Heavy Bombers sent Mapua University and Lyceum of the Philippines University to the edge, before just running out of gas in crunch time. They lost to the Cardinals, 56-59, then to the Pirates, 75-82.
This is something head coach Louie Gonzalez has admitted and addressed.
“Sa past few games, ang talagang problema namin is finishing, except for the last one where we really played badly,” the president of the Basketball Coaches Association of the Philippines said.
“Pero today they showed grit, they showed character and they showed they can finish every possession strong.”
None of those endgame meltdowns happened when they faced the highly-touted College of Saint Benilde. Instead, JRU was able to finally finish what it had started.
The Heavy Bombers exploded early in the game before they fended off a looming Blazers comeback with 10 minutes left to play.
Prince Carlos and AJ Benson tried to keep CSB in it, but it was on the defensive side where the Heavy Bombers zoned in as they limited the opponents to just one field goal in the last 4:03 left in the game.
And on the other side, JL Delos Santos found Marwin Dionisio inside for the basket, sealing the five-point lead for the Bombers with 38.0 seconds left in the game.
At the sound of the final buzzer, the Heavy Bombers emerged winners for the first time in the season.
Gonzalez was definitely relieved of this response from the Heavy Bombers.
“This is really big for us, especially na nakita namin na kaya pala naming tumapos,” he said. “Grabe rin yung confidence ng individual players ng Saint Benilde
“So for us to sustain, for us to compete against them, yung confidence nila kailangan palitan ko ng discipline and ng perseverance. Sabi ko sa kanila mag-tyaga lang tayo. Diba puro kami talo dito pero yung effort tsaka yung commitment sa practice didn’t change.”
However, the breakthrough win goes well outside the court as he takes pride in how his squad played by the rules.
He shared, “Actually sobrang sarap. Yung campaign kasi namin is really beyond basketball kaya sabi ko sa kanila, yung integrity ng team natin is intact. When we started training, talagang sinunod namin yung protocol.”
“Ang pinakamalaking challenge talaga is how will you convince them na we will be fine basta’t sinusunod natin yung rules and regulations. “
With the Heavy Bombers getting the monkey off their back, there is nowhere to go but up for them, hopefully.
