IT’S just one loss.
While University of the Philippines’ title-retention drive got off to a sorry start, Fighting Maroons coach Goldwin Monteverde is not one to cry over spilled milk—for now.
“Definitely, this is not the way na gusto namin to start the season but I guess playing as a team, we need to improve on that,” Monteverde said. “Sometimes, iyong mga ganitong tough losses, it pushes us to work together and work harder and try to improve pa more as a team.
“It’s really tough, iyong mga ganito but our next game will be tomorrow so there’s no time for us to feel sorry for ourselves. after this, we will try to watch the game, try to find out which things to work on then move forward for the next game against Adamson,” he added.
UP surrendered a stunning 67-87 loss to University of Santo Tomas in their opening match in the 88th UAAP basketball tournament last Sunday night.
Mark Belmonte powered the Maroons with 12 points, while Harold Alarcon added 11 markers but his side found little to no answer to the bull-strong Growling Tiger rookie Collins Akowe.
The 6-foot-10 Nigerian big man turned in 29 points and 17 rebounds for UST, easily one of the most dominant debuts in recent history.
Jacob Bayla also had 11 for UP, which lost to the Tigers for the first time since the 2019 stepladder semifinals, where former UST star Renzo Subido banged in a deep three-pointer that sent the Tigers of then strategist Aldin Ayo to the Big Dance.
Now, Adamson University is expected to feel the wrath of the Maroons when they cross paths tomorrow at the UST Quadricentennial Pavilion.
“We look at it game by game, kumbaga for this game siyempre definitely kailangan namin as a team panoorin and try to find out kung anong dapat baguhin then iyon lang siguro,” Monteverde said. “As I said before, life goes on, after this loss may dadating na bagong games so we as a team should prepare well, hindi na namin iisipin iyong sama ng loob dito.
“Kumbaga hindi ito importante, iyong preparasyon namin for the next game, iyon ang mahalaga. Ganoon naman talaga ang buhay, ‘di ba? I mean, if something goes wrong, life goes on, you need to move forward.”
