LIKE his counterpart Topex Robinson of defending champion La Salle, University of the Philippines coach Goldwin Monteverde is also moving on from the controversy that surrounded both teams.
He has just one appeal–the UAAP should make sure any similar incident would not happen, and the league takes care of the well-being of student-athletes.
“Online wise hindi ko naman alam iyong kung anong lumalabas sa usapin. The UAAP made the decision and siyempre kami we’ll abide by it and I’m sure naman on our part, hindi naman iyon basta desisyon lang na ginawa nila. Pinag-isipan ng maayos, nag-meeting ng maayos so samin siyempre we would respect that,” Monteverde said.
“Nangyari ang nangyari. Of course, at the end of the day I’m very confident naman na the UAAP would be very strict na wala nang mangyayari na insidente na pangdudura or something na ganoon bagay sa game.
“For me, what’s important is ang well-being ng mga players, si Reyland, lahat involved diyan and hopefully lang, siguro, hindi na mangyayari ulit,” he added.
Monteverde issued his sentiment after the Fighting Maroons scored an 83-73 win over the University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigers last Sunday night in the 87th UAAP basketball tournament.
The league last Saturday announced stern warnings were issued to Robinson and UP guard Reyland Torres for the incident that happened in the protagonists’ highly emotional duel last Oct. 6.
Torres alleged that Robinson spat at him during the game, but the Green Archers’ camp said the UP player provoked the incident by talking trash while passing by in front of their bench twice, leading to Robinson yelling at him.
The league said in a statement last Saturday that both allegations could not be proven to be true.
“Additionally, allegations that Mr. Torres used profane language, and that coach Robinson spat at Mr. Torres could not be conclusively proven based on testimonies and available evidence during the investigation,” the UAAP said.
Francis Lopez starred for the Maroons with 20 points and seven rebounds while Terrence Fortea added 16 markers.
Harold Alarcon and Quentin Millora-Brown also had 11 and 10 points, respectively, as UP rose to 7-1 in a tie with La Salle on top.
The ugly incident is now behind the Katipunan-based cagers and Monteverde said his wards are not re-focusing their sights on the prize.
“Sa akin naman every game may mga takeaways kami especially with a team like UST. For us, you know, they have a good program. malakas iyong team nila,” he said. “So, every time na we’re competing against them definitely after the game pagu-usapan namin what to adjust on. So, we’re doing, nag-i-improve din kami.”
