The pain of defeat is always hard to take. For De La Salle University, the 74-78 loss to University of the Philippines in the Final Four of the UAAP Season 84 Men’s Basketball Tournament will sting longer because the opportunity was there to advance to the finals against Ateneo de Manila University.
The Green Archers were able to hold the Fighting Maroons at bay for most of the contest, only to fold in the endgame thanks to Carl Tamayo’s brilliance.
A first finals appearance since Season 80 was lost and the La Salle players and coaches were left to lament what could have been if only they held on long enough.
“We kind of let them back in the game. They picked up the momentum. We didn’t finish as strong as we should have,” admitted Schonny Winston who led all scorers with 26 points in 35 minutes of action.
“The points don’t really matter. The point is as a team, we fell short today. We had the game. We didn’t close the game like we should. We let them pick up momentum and they caught up and won the game.”
In a sense, this game was symptomatic of the Green Archers’ struggles this season. They were always there but did not do enough to close the deal – as seen in regular season losses against Ateneo, UP, and Far Eastern University.
Without a doubt, the glass was half full for La Salle as it gathered on the center court after the game to claim its prize for finishing third place in Season 84.
A little more maturity on the floor then maybe it would have been enough to book a ticket to the big dance against the Blue Eagles.
“We definitely had this. We learned a lot this year. There’s not a lot of positives but the only positive I could see is that we’re changing the culture,” said the 6-foot-4 cager.
“I’m new here but they said that it’s been a while since (La Salle) made it to the Final Four. We wanted to go further. We could have gone further. But based on the past years, I feel like we’re changing the culture here at De La Salle.”
Now that everything is said and done, the only thing the Green Archers can do is lick their wounds, move on, and use this as a platform to build on for Season 85.
Come that time, though, they will have to do without Kurt Lojera and Justine Baltazar, who have played out their eligibilities.
The two players could have gone professional during the extended off-season but they chose to remain in the La Salle program. And for that, Winston is grateful for the chance to have played alongside them.
“Kurt and Balti, they’re like big brothers to us. They encouraged us and told us, I mean it was a quick conversation, we were kind of just thanking them in the locker room,” expressed Winston, who will still play his final year with La Salle come Season 85.
“Thank them for competing with us this year and they’ll be missed. That’s basically how it went because those are our key guys on our team and they’re the big brothers in the team.”
Truly, La Salle will need time to get over this loss. It is up to Winston to help the team in bouncing back and moving one or maybe two steps further next time around.
—
All UAAP games stream live on GigaPlay presented by Yamaha. Download it now on Android or IOS.
