Adamson University held on for a thrilling 61-60 victory over De La Salle University on Wednesday, but it wasn’t just the tight score that had fans talking.
The game’s drama boiled over in the third quarter, with Adamson head coach Nash Racela and La Salle captain Mike Phillips at the center of a tense sequence that could have easily overshadowed the court action.
It all unfolded at the 45.5-second mark of the third period.
Green Archer guard EJ Gollena sank a three-pointer while being fouled by Austin Ronzone.
At the same time, La Salle’s Vhoris Marasigan went down after a hard boxout by Adamson’s Manu Anabo, who was called for an unsportsmanlike foul.
While Marasigan was on the floor, Racela approached him — but Phillips apparently had something to say to the veteran coach, resulting in a technical foul on Racela.
“Wala naman, sinabihan ako ni Phillips [na] ‘Tumahimik ka muna coach’. ‘Yun lang naman ‘yung sinabi niya,” Racela explained after the game.
“I was really surprised because he talks a lot about God and all of a sudden lumabas ‘yun sa bibig niya. But I understand, that’s the spur-of-the-moment thing. Emosyon niya siguro yun,” he added.
“Maybe he felt that’s what they needed to get the victory so, siguro, if ever… I don’t know if he was wrong during that time or not. If ever he was then I’m sure he will realize that and he has his Lord to ask forgiveness for diba? Lahat naman tayo pinagpapatawad ng Panginoon kapag nagkakamali tayo eh, ano?”
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For Adamson, the victory was crucial.
A loss could have eliminated them from Final Four contention, but now at 6-7, they set their sights on another win against Ateneo de Manila University this Sunday to secure the best possible seeding.
La Salle, meanwhile, continues to slide, suffering its third straight loss to fall to 6-6.
Phillips, looking back on the incident, clarified his side of the story, saying his actions were meant to protect Marasigan after the collision.
“Nothing bad at all. I’m not really too sure what happened — I just noticed that Vho was on the ground and he said hindi siya makahinga. So I just want to allot space for him, and then I also got like a little flashback because I was the one who was standing over Kean. So whenever my guys fall down, I just try to like protect them so they know I’m there,” said Phillips.
“I actually don’t know why, but I’m sure [Coach Nash] has reasons. No harm or foul on my side, and I’m sure we’re fine. I don’t think we got the chance to see each other after the game because I was consoling Earl Abadam after, but I’m sure we’ll see each other,” he continued.
“We faced each other so many times and we’re always like joking with each other so it’s just two competitors.”
