ADAMSON coach Kenneth Duremdes readily took the blame for the Falcons’ sorry loss 25-62 to National University Bulldogs in their UAAP men’s basketball game Wednesday that set records for scoring futility.
The Falcons' points total for the whole game, the lowest in the UAAP's modern era, was so few it was lesser than the season-high 29 points Kiefer Ravena established in Ateneo’s win over La Salle last July 20.
Duremdes, however, faced reporters after the game and immediately took the responsibility for the embarrassing loss.
“We take responsibility for this,” said Duremdes. “We will do better and we will adjust to the offense that we didn’t have right now.”
Against the Bulldogs, the Falcons shot just 9-of-57 from the field while failing to score in double figures in each of the four quarters.
“Our job is to motivate them. Not only the players are down, but the whole Adamson community is down. We have to motivate our players,” said Duremdes.
The former PBA MVP said the team’s struggles has nothing to do with lack of talent, saying the Falcons simply failed to make their shots compared to their previous game against University of Santo Tomas when they lost by only a point.
“The way I see it, last game, okay naman eh. We also executed. But we can’t buy a basket. We had good looks. We had open shots. Pero sila nakaka-shoot, they kept on scoring. That’s basketball,” said Duremdes.
The former PBA star said it was easy for young players to be disheartened when the shots are not falling.
“It was a bad shooting day because we were executing our plays. Sa mga young players, madaling mawalan ng confidence. It’s a learning process for the players and the coaches as well,” said Duremdes.
Despite the loss, Duremdes still managed to crack jokes.
Asked by Spin.ph on whether he was tempted to play during the game, Duremdes said no. “Hindi rin. With this type of game, hindi na rin ako makatakbo,” he said.
Again asked about his plans in their game against defending champion La Salle on Saturday, Duremdes had a simple answer.
“Hopefully, we don’t repeat (this),” Duremdes said with a smile. “We played the worst game in our careers. It doesn’t matter. Ang maganda rito, we are still lucky that we are (playing) basketball.
"Kung may downside, may upside din. You have to work for it. Stay positive lang ang approach namin.”
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