UST coach says free throw disparity did them in
University of Santo Tomas coach Bong dela Cruz wasted little time in pointing out what made the biggest difference in their latest loss against defending champion La Salle that put them on the brink of missing the Final Four of the UAAP Season 77 men’s basketball tournament.
“‘Yung La Salle, nabigyan sila ng 39 free throws. ‘Yun lang. 39 free throws is 39 free throws,” he pointed out after emerging from the team’s dug-out following a 60-67 setback at the Mall of Asia Arena that dealt a big blow to their Final Four bid as they dropped to 5-7 overall, two and a half games behind fourth-running National U (7-4).
Asked if the officiating did them in, dela Cruz refused to answer it out loud.
“Mahirap sabihin. Pero 39 free throws ang binigay. Kayo na ang bahala. Mahirap manalo ‘pag binigyan ka ng 17 free throws against 39 free throws,” he added, clearly aware of the Green Archers’ big disparity in free throw attempts notably in the payoff period where they made 13 of their 21 tries against the Tigers’ 2-of-2 clip, both coming from Cameroon center Karim Abdul.
La Salle forward Jeron Teng, who led all scorers with 26 points, practically camped out at the charity stripe and had as many free throw attempts as the entire UST team. He knocked down 14 of his 17 attempts, including nine in the last 10 minutes.
Even injured wingman Kevin Ferrer, who watched from the UST’s bench in street clothes, offered the same inkling like dela Cruz.
“Ipinakita naman namin na kaya namin sila. Pero kayo na bahala du’n. Siyempre kita niyo naman. Lahat naman tayo alam ang mechanics ang laro. Basta no comment na lang ako du’n. Basta alam niyo na ‘yun. Bahala na kayo, ayaw ko nang mag-isip,” added the 6-foot-4 forward, who has already ruled himself out for the season as he continues to recover from a fractured left hand.
After two made freebies by Abdul that put them ahead at 60-58, the Tigers never scored inside the last 2:30 minutes as Teng and towering teammate Arnold Van Opstal put the finishing touches in a methodical Green Archers’ windup.
"Scoreless kami siguro kasi mayroon mga contacts na dapat tinawagan kaso hindi tinawagan. ‘Yun 'yung nangyari samin,” said dela Cruz. “'Yung execution, may mga errors na nag-cost ng game.
“Pero 'yung mga players ko, they played with their hearts out. Gusto talaga nilang manalo. Kaso at the end of the day, siyempre when you looked at the stats, they were given 39 free throws,” he added.
Already facing the specter of missing the semifinals for the first time since 2010, dela Cruz is confident the Tigers will still give their all.
“Kailangan every game lumaban kami. ‘Yung pride ng Tomasino, 'yung puso ng Tomasino dapat andyan lang every game. Hindi na namin tinitignan 'yung Final Four or what. Basta every game kailangan namin manalo at 'yung puso andu’n,” he said.
