University of the East did not have the start it hoped for in the UAAP Season 87 Collegiate Men’s Basketball Tournament.
Poor first-quarter performances against University of Santo Tomas and University of the Philippines left the Red Warriors in a 0-2 hole to open the season.
However, UE finally found its footing with a come-from-behind victory over struggling Far Eastern University last Wednesday.
Throughout this rough three-game stretch, one of the players who struggled was John Abate.
The 6-foot-1 guard was limited to just 12 points on 5-of-21 shooting from the field.
Despite these early struggles, Abate bounced back in a big way, recording a UAAP career-high 20 points on an impressive 85.7% shooting.
He also sank the crucial game-sealing free throws to hand defending champions De La Salle University their first loss of the season.
“It was definitely big to have our first win against FEU, even though it was an ugly loss,” shared Abate, a transferee from Spring Hill College.
“We came into this game focused on what we needed to do, and our status is kind of known for making shots.”
Abate emphasized that their execution was key adding, “We executed the way we needed to. We knew La Salle would have their runs, but we came back and executed.”
Abate’s decision to transfer to UE, after initially committing to UST, is proving to be the right move.
With its win over La Salle, UE now holds a 2-2 record, tying them with Adamson University for fourth place.
The Fil-Am guard acknowledged that the Red Warriors’ confidence is soaring, but he stressed that proper game execution and unity will be critical if they want to make a deep run this season.
(C) UAAP Season 87 Media Team
“Just sticking together. We have a system and foundation we’ve built upon for these last two wins. Coming off that, we have confidence now, and we believe in ourselves individually and as a team. From here, it just comes down to execution,” Abate, 23, said.
UE head coach Jack Santiago praised not only Abate’s breakout performance, but also the Red Warriors’ resilience in overcoming their 0-2 start.
“It’s so hard to start 0-2, but we just needed to weather the storm and continue doing what we needed to do. I’m so proud of the boys because no one played selfishly. We stuck together and followed the game plan,” Santiago explained.
(C) UAAP Season 87 Media Team
Looking ahead, Santiago emphasized the importance of his players quickly identifying and embracing their roles, both on and off the court, as they aim for more wins.
UE will next face tough opponents like National University, Ateneo de Manila University, and Adamson’s Soaring Falcons to close out the first round of eliminations.
Santiago remains optimistic but cautioned that success will come only if each player accepts their individual role.
“Alam ko na we are capable of beating big teams, but we just need to accept the individual roles ng mga bata. I know lahat talented, I would say I have a deep bench, but ang ano rito ay kailangan i-accept yung kanya-kanyang role namin na kahit limited minutes ay ibigay na natin yung one-hundred percent natin.”
