Taiwan triumph boosts UP’s UAAP campaign
Credit to Author: JOSEF T. RAMOS, TMT| Date: Thu, 25 Jul 2019 16:18:02 +0000
The University of the Philippines (UP) Fighting Maroons’ victory in the recent Buddha’s Light International Association Cup will definitely boost the State U’s campaign in the upcoming Season 82 University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) basketball tournament.
UP coach Bo Perasol said that it’s not an easy win but the experience gave his wards a winning mentality.
“It’s important that we had to go through that. How we played without Ricci (Rivero) and Juan (Gomez de Liano). How Kobe played with his teammates. And our last two opponents were strong teams,” Perasol said during a news conference on Thursday at the Executive House in UP Diliman.
“But the takeaways of those tournaments is that we can comeback and win it all the way. We have what it takes to win a championship and that’s what the players realized. As long as they understand that they will struggle through this, we can go through this,” added Perasol.
The Fighting Maroons will attend a training camp in Serbia two weeks from now before competing in a tournament in Shanghai, China.
Perasol said that the departure of Paul Desiderio has shown that all his players are capable of becoming a leader. Desiderio is now playing with Blackwater in the Philippine Basketball Association.
“All of them has the ability, everybody fits in the leadership role. When leadership is needed, someone has to step in. It’s not a particular person. Somebody has to sacrifice. For me leadership, means sacrifice,” he said.
The Fighting Maroons will be fielding in Kobe Paras, Ricci Rivero, James Tungcab, Nigerian Bright Akhuetie, Will Gozum, James Spencer, as well as brothers Javier Joaquin and Juan Gerardo Gomez de Liaño this coming UAAP season.
UP finished second in Season 81 behind defending champion Ateneo De Manila University.
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