“We gathered together as a team after practice yesterday. I told them that it can’t be just two, three, or four players that will win a game.”
“Someone has to step up, whoever it is that coach will put in, in order for us to get the win,” UP senior Jett Manuel recalled.
The underclassmen of the University of the Philippines always had one mindset entering a season: “let’s win one for our seniors.” For the better part of the decade though, some of the graduating players of the Fighting Maroons were not fortunate enough to experience at least a single win in their final UAAP year.
Having won a game this season – against the UE Red Warriors in their third assignment, Gelo Vito and the younger batch of Fighting Maroons wanted to give at least one more gift to their seniors.
With 1:15 left in the game and UP up by just a solitary point, 51-50, Vito drained a three point shot that would have given UP a four-point edge. However, the shot was negated by the officials after Paul Desiderio was called for an illegal pick moments before he had released the attempt.
“Okay lang naman. Kung hindi naman talaga i-count, we’ll go into the next play. We really can’t dwell on it that much,” he recalled.
“Lagi namin inisiip na next play lang. [Fortunately] We played good defense on our next play.”
The former La Salle Greenhills-standout did not let that moment get the best of him. Exactly 59 seconds later, Manuel was able to locate Vito for a corner triple that gave UP enough cushion to take home its first win against the Ateneo Blue Eagles in seven years. The 6’5″ stretch forward stepped-up and heeded his captain’s plea.
“I’m happy that Gelo’s here. He stepped up for us big time,” Manuel said.
As he went to the bench, the third-year Fighting Maroons exclaimed “finally!” as he was tightly hugged by graduating players Dave Moralde and Henri Asilum.
The shot was specifically for them.
“The game is on the line, kailangan may mag-step up. Good thing ipinasa sa akin ni Jett,” Vito, who finished the game with seven points and five rebounds, said.
“Tiwala, pare,” Manuel quipped that drew laughters from the members of the press.
“He talked to us and said ‘Sana nararamdaman niyo yung sense of urgency ko coming into this second round,'” Vito narrated.
“Na-feel namin na last year na ni Jett and we won’t let our seniors down.”
Besides giving their seniors its second win in their final year, they also gave them an added gift: being part of the team that ended UP’s misery against the Ateneo Blue Eagles.
