Ayaw nang patagalin ng Ateneo

MANILA, Philippines — Tangan ang 1-0 bentahe sa short series, target nga­yon ng nagdedepensang Ateneo Blue Eagles na tapusin na ang pag-asa ng University of the Phi­lippines Fighting Maroons sa Game 2 ng best-of-three finals series ng Season 81 UAAP men’s bas­ketball tournament sa Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Inaasahan uli ang mainit na laban sa kanilang paghaharap sa alas-3:30 ng hapon kung saan paboritong magwagi ang 9-time champion na Ateneo dahil sa kanilang 88-79 panalo sa Game 1 noong Sabado.

Bunga nito, inamin ni Ateneo assistant coach San­dy Arespacochaga na inilayo muna nila ang ka­­nilang sarili sa “social media news” para sa mga po­sibleng distractions sa kanilang laro.

“That’s how serious we are. We just didn’t want our players to get distracted so sorry for that. It’s not us being KJ (killjoy), but we just want our players to focus because we all know that we got a tough task ahead of us,” pahayag ni Arespacochaga.

Sinabi ni Arespacochaga na hindi lamang sa pag­kakataong ito ginawa nila ang “social media blackout.” Kahit raw noong nakaraang taon sa Finals laban sa De La Salle Green Archers ay ginawa rin nila ang estriktong patakaran.

“UP has proven that they’re not an easy opponent so we don’t want to get distracted from our mission which is now Wednesday’s game. We did this also last year so we can avoid any distractions to our players. It’s not that we want to be killjoys or whatever so I apologize, but this is a big task for us,” dagdag ni Arespacochaga.

Sa panig naman ng Fighting Maroons, kaila-ngan nilang mapanatili ang pag-asa para sa asam na ika­lawang titulo sapul noong 1986.

“After Game 1, it gave us ‘yung idea na beatable (ang Ateneo). Before, wala namang nagbigay nang tsansa sa amin eh. Before this series, iniisip mo paano tayo mabubugbog dito. Ngayon, ang pa­niniwala na namin is we can compete with the de­fending champions if we put our minds into it and we keep doing what we have been doing this sea­son,” sabi ni UP coach Bo Perasol.

Pinaalalahanan ni Perasol ang kanyang mga man­lalaro sa kanilang dinaanan bago nakarating sa ka­nilang unang Finals appearance sa loob ng 32 taon.

“I keep on reminding them that getting into this Finals series is not an accident. They did it themselves. Baka isipin nila, mirakulo ito, pero hindi, they did it themselves. It becomes more dangerous na we’re in a knockout game and we need to beat them twice, but I told them, we’ve done this al­ready before,” ayon kay Pe­rasol.