Mikee Reyes accepts blame for painful UP loss
Guard Mikee Reyes soaked it all in when he helped the University of the Philippines notch a breakthrough win earlier in the UAAP Season 77 men’s basketball tournament. And when he failed to deliver just when he was needed the most by the Fighting Maroons, the 5-foot-9 guard was man enough to say sorry to the whole UP faithful and community.
“Blame me,” Reyes quickly posted on his personal Twitter account (@m9keereyes), moments after missing a pair of crucial triples with eighth-tenths of a second left that could have prevented UP from absorbing a stinging 69-70 loss to the Ateneo Blue Eagles on Wednesday at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.
After spearheading the Fighting Maroons’ big comeback in the fourth where he pumped in 15 of his game-high 19 points, Reyes turned from hero to zero when he crumbled under duress at the 15-foot line, missing two attempts off a foul from Blue Eagles wingman Chris Newsome with less than a second left and all eyes from a sizable crowd focused all over him.
“It was a big choking experience for me and I’m not gonna deny that,” Reyes told a handful of sports scribes inside the team’s dugout, still visibly upset over what might have been.
After playing a stellar role in their lone victory yet this season, a 77-66 triumph over winless Adamson last August 9 when he fired a season-high 28 points, Reyes had the chance to help UP snap a nine-game losing streak against Ateneo. The last time UP won over the Blue Eagles was in the second round of Season 72 at the PhilSports Arena, or five years ago.
Reyes muffed his first try and, after an interval following Ateneo’s ploy to have game officials review the call whether Reyes took a three-point try, also missed the second, allowing the Blue Eagles to heave a big sigh or relief and leaving the Maroons in despair.
“Honestly, I thought I had three free throws. When I missed the first one, everyone’s saying na parang minadali ko raw. But honestly if I take too long before I shoot, baka mas marami akong isipin. And that’s how I shoot free throws naman talaga. I take two dribbles and then shoot. Hindi na ako nagtatagal,” Reyes shared.
“So when I missed it, just one of two. Tapos ang tagal. Nakatayo lang ako dun sa free throw line tapos sabi ko ‘Bakit ang tagal?’ Siyempre the crowd is getting into you. And when the referee whistled, he pointed one (more free throw). So I looked at the ref because i though I had two more (attempts). isa na lang daw.”
His failure to get his team over the hump still stings for Reyes.
“You can say everything about how I exploded in the fourth, ako ang nagdala, without me we wouldn’t be in that position. But at the end of the day, it's those two free throws (that cost us),” he stressed.
“If I agreed to that (praises), hindi ako naka focus sa two free throws at okay na ako na we’re in that position to win. But it’s not okay for me. I’m not gonna take that. I needed to make two more free throws to win the game for us. Kaso wala, talo pa rin. Its still 1-11 for us. I don’t take credit for what they are saying,” he said.
UP coach Rey Madrid, however, refused to pin the blame on Reyes. “For the record, I cannot even put burden on Mikee for missing those shots. He was the one who brought us there and could be by sheer exhaustion na rin. There’s no question about his toughness and willingness to win. It’s just that he did so much in the last six or seven minutes. Walang burden dun sa kanya,” he noted.
