Philippines-Mighty Sports head think-tank Bo Perasol is thankful and gives due credit to the players that gave it their all to win the 38th William Jones Cup crown the past week.
The current UP Fighting Maroons Men’s Basketball Team head coach and the import-laden Mighty Sports squad arrived in the Philippines Monday morning, fresh from triumphing this year’s Jones Cup edition in Taiwan.
After sweeping the tournament in eight games and grabbing the gold — the Philippines’ fifth Jones Cup crown — Perasol is nothing but thankful for all the support his team received the whole campaign, right from their preparations up to the final game.
“This is to attribute everything, with the whole team, number one of course to Mighty Sports, who have bankrolled this whole team and secondly to SBP — the federation that gave us the approval to compete in the Jones Cup,” said Perasol in a press conference held at the Terminal 1 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
“And [of course] to our very good and talented imports, who have given their 100 percent [and] committed and sacrificed a lot to represent our country,” he added.
The former PBA head coach also thanked the support their fellow Filipinos residing in Taipei gave to Mighty Sports in the whole eight-game stretch.
Photo by Kuk Thew
“Malalaking pasasalamat namin doon sa mga Overseas Filipino Workers sa Taipei na araw-araw nagbibigay ng cheering for us,” a grateful Perasol expressed.
“Hindi namin hometown ‘yun but it felt na naging hometown na rin namin ‘yung Taipei dahil sa kanilang presensya doon sa gym.”
Their obvious dominance in the tournament seemed to be just a walk in the park for Mighty Sports — comprised of seven imports and seven locals — but Perasol claimed otherwise.
“There was nothing easy on this tournament. We played eight straight games, but it was all worth it when we swept the Jones Cup. So this is to attribute every person in this team,” the former Ateneo head coach said.
Photo by Kuk Thew
Perasol, moreover, rued that the team’s success is hugely credited to the talent the players representing the Three Stars and the Sun in Taipei have.
“The key to our success is not even about our preparation because we haven’t had a long preparation. The key there was, truthfully, the high basketball IQ of the guys that we have here.”
“There were times that we just have to let them decide for themselves on court and that’s the reason why we got them into this team,” stated Perasol.
“So basically the success of this is because of the talents that we have in this team.”
