BY ABBY TORALBA
COLLEGE of Saint Benilde coach Charles Tiu is bent on keeping his charges on their toes so they would remain on the right track in their bid for the 98th NCAA basketball crown — even if it means showing his “bad” side.
The Blazers turned back the Cardinals of Mapua U last Wednesday 85-72 for their eighth win in 10 games that somehow pleased Tiu. But their embarrassing 75-80 defeat to lowly Emilio Aguinaldo College two days back kept nagging at Tiu, who was convinced it should not have happened if only his players “came to play.”
“I’m happy (with the win over Mapua) but I’m still very mad (about) that EAC loss, to be honest,” Tiu said during the post-game interview. “I don’t think it’s about disrespecting EAC because we talked about it the whole week, we talked about it all season, that they’re a good team, but I’m just upset and disappointed in the way that we played.
“For me, it’s respecting the integrity of the game. If guys don’t wanna play and act like they don’t wanna play, then they don’t have to show up. There was no effort, and in some ways, it disappoints me a lot. I’m still not over that and it’s gonna be different from now on for us at CBS,” he said, adding: “No more nice guy for the team.”
Tiu, an assistant coach for the Meralco Bolts in the PBA, said some things have changed after the EAC loss.
“They know I’m mad. They felt it and I’ll keep that in the house for now. Yeah, they know that I’m upset so they better shape up. Our management has been very kind, our supporters have really supported them, so I told them they have no excuse. Just focus on playing and try to win every game,” he said.
Having aired his grievance, he turned his attention to the Mapua game and said: “I’m very thankful… I thank the Lord for our win over Mapua because it was a hard fought (game).
We were about to collapse but our defense held up in the fourth quarter.”
Looking forward to their coming game against tenacious Jose Rizal University next Wednesday, Tiu said: “It’s tough. They’re a playoff team. They have talent. They’re physical so it’s a game we have to prepare (for), we have to win.
“They’re one of the top teams that we have to beat if we want to make it to the final four.
It’s a tough challenge. It’s a good test but to me it’s where I can see the character of the players.”
