King Blazer Fons Saavedra struggled to keep himself together after the College of Saint Benilde Blazers absorbed their 16th loss of the season, Thursday afternoon, against the Mapua Institute of Technology Cardinals.
The Blazers, a team that has lost by a league-high margin of 14.7 points per game, were surprisingly able to keep pace with the Final Four-bound Cardinals during the first half — even holding a nine point edge at one point. However, the inexperience of the young Blazers showed in the second half as the veteran-laden Cardinals broke away for a 69-59 win.
With the seconds winding down, Saavedra, with a towel draped over his head, was crushed, visibly heartbroken as the Blazers let another one slip away.
“It’s just… It’s been a rough season,” the 25-year-old Saavedra told Tiebreaker Times. “Just a tough season.”
“The game just slipped away from us.”
He then added that he wanted to at least win a game against Mapua before leaving the NCAA.
“Mapua is one of the teams that I wanted to beat. I always looked up to them since I entered the league together with teams like San Beda and Letran,” said the HRIM major.
“I really wanted to win this one.”
The Filipino-American, who is considered a foreigner in the NCAA because of his passport, missed four games this season to return home to California to be at the side of his mother, who had been diagnosed with a brain tumor early in the season.
“No, I did not expect this,” the 6’4″ forward admitted about Benilde’s 0-16 start. “It’s more emotional for me with what’s happening in my life. Everything is amplified.”
“My mom just had surgery a few weeks ago. It’s hard for me but she made me come back. She knew how close I was with these guys and I’m about to graduate.
“I wanted to win one for her,” shared Saavedra, as he fought back tears.
But still, with just two games remaining for the Blazers, the Saint Benilde senior remains vigilant even with the backlash they have been receiving.
“I’ve been through a lot with this team and coach Gabby [Velasco]. Guys like Paolo [Taha], [Jonathan] Grey, Anton [Altamirano], [RJ] Deles, they call me all the time to keep me positive.
“You can’t be negative. It hurts but we just have to stick together,” he shared.
“People say that we don’t want to win but we really do. Just like everyone, we go to practice at 5:30am and then go to school. It’s just that we have a young team.”
With just two games remaining before their Season 92 campaign comes to a close, Saavedra remains hopeful that they can at least win one.
“We will keep on practicing. We are still going to go hard, “ he said. “I have a feeling we are going to win one, hopefully!”
“Next year, they will be a whole lot better. These kid can play like Yankie [Haruna], Christian [Fajarito], JJ [Domingo]. They have a potential and they are going to work hard,” he closed.
“It’s going to be a different story next year.”
