MANILA, Philippines – When Mapua took on UP on the second day of the 2018 Filoil Flying V Preseason Cup, there was a look of pride on the face of Cardinals head coach Atoy Co.
Not only did his team eke out a hard-fought win over highly fancied UP with an all-Filipino crew, but more specifically, it was a mostly a young homegrown squad that accomplished the feat.
Among the players to move up from the Red Robins to the Cardinals were Eric Jabel, Lawrence Victoria, Justin Serrano, Jasper Salenga, Warren Bonifacio, Noah Lugo, Daniel Aguirre and Joaqui Garcia. After the opening weekend matches that saw 10 teams compete, they had the most number of homegrown players (with eight) aside from the Ateneo Blue Eagles.
During the match, the Cardinals made life difficult for former Red Robins teammate Will Gozum, who was taunted every time he touched the ball and even clobbered when the players fell to the floor. When matched up against his former frontcourt mate Warren Bonifacio, the taunting from the Mapua crowd got louder.
“Hindi mo kaya si Boni,” yelled some of the supporters.
When Gozum scored two straight baskets to spearhead a rally, the ragging got only louder.
Gozum was a part of a team that won the NCAA juniors crown two seasons ago before they lost to La Salle Greenhills in the past campaign.
The Cardinals understand that Gozum has UP roots as he suited up for the Junior Maroons in the UAAP before transferring to Mapua for senior high school. Now they won’t admit it, but they intimate that they wished Gozum stayed to help bring back Mapua to its glory days.
Gozum isn’t the only Red Robin to bolt Intramuros. Sherwin Concepcion and Mike Enriquez, key players on the recent juniors champions, are now with UST.
It doesn’t help that Mapua is one of the vertically challenged squads. So they could have used Gozum’s talent, smarts, and height.
The Cardinals may be challenged stratospherically but when it comes to heart, they got lots.
In fact, Lawrence Victoria made no bones about the challenge of playing UP with its Gilas Cadets players (Paul Desiderio, Juan Gomez De Liaño, and Gozum) and former Perpetual Help Altas nemesis Bright Akhuetie, who has decamped from Las Piñas to Diliman.
“Gusto rin namin ipakita na pantay din kami,” succinctly put Victoria.
And true enough, they made life difficult for all the Fighting Maroons, who for the second consecutive day got a lesson in hustle, energy and passion.
And speaking of passion, Co was inflamed when the topic veered to their former center and two-time NCAA Most Valuable Player Allwell Oraeme, who is in currently in Florida. There have been reports of a fallout over Oraeme’s wish to transfer school.
“Ako nagdala rito tapos iba makikinabang,” said a visibly angry Co, who is still rankled by the topic of his former center. Sabi nila babalik siya rito at kinukuha nila papeles niya sa amin para i-release sa ibang school. School to school ang usapan at bakit kung sino sino pa nakikipagusap. At hindi kami papayag.”
The former PBA great laments that his alma mater does not have the resources to recruit or even put up a program. When he looks at San Beda with its foreign and Fil-foreign players, he believes that his players will have to play at their best and hardest to beat them.
“Mahirap ang laban,” he admits. “Basta lang naman lumaban kami.”
Do not think for one moment that Co has yielded the crown. There’s a fierce pride that burns in the old warhorse.
“Wala kami yung yaman ng mga ibang schools pero meron din kaming kakayahan at tapang,” he concluded his post-match talk with media with pride.
The Mapua Cardinals play their second match of the Filoil Flying V Preseason Cup at 2:15 p.m. on Friday, against NCAA foe Emilio Aguinaldo College at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan.