COACH Charles Tiu knew he was going to get some backlash after publicly calling out his team’s fight in St. Benilde’s game one loss to Mapua in the NCAA Season 101 quarterfinals.
But that was a calculated call, a call that paid off in a big way for the Blazers.
Two days after getting publicly called out by their coach as ‘duwag’ and ‘larong takot,’ the Blazers showed plenty of fight in them in taking a 74-72 win over the Cardinals to move to the semifinals of the tournament on Friday at the Playtime Filoil Center.
READ: St. Benilde holds off Mapua to forge semis clash with San Beda
Fired up after Tiu’s comments on the press last Wednesday, the Blazers stood their guard and threw the first punch – opening a comfortable lead from the onset, a lead they protected until the very end.
So gritty were these Blazers that they withstood several rallies from the Cardinals to book a semis date with San Beda.
“That was the plan right? I saw the comments on the articles on Facebook, everybody’s bashing saying that we’re blaming the players. We’re not blaming the players, we wanted to motivate them,” Tiu said.
“I told them, prove me wrong, and you can make fun of me all you want after the game. Prove to me that we’re tougher than what we showed,” he added. “I guess it worked today. They responded, and we came out firing.”
While he was critical of his team the last time out, Tiu was happy to see that his message was heard loud and clear.
The demeanor of his players way before tip-off was enough to give him confidence that they’re ready to go to war and finally get over the hump that was Mapua, a team that eliminated them in the past two seasons.
“From the get-go, when I entered the dugout, to the warm-ups the body language was different, they were all locked in. That was a good sign for me,” he said.
“I felt good entering this game. I’m just happy we got the win with a bit of a break but that’s the NCAA man, it’s so tough to win, I hope they people realize that. We wanted to show some character.”
The win allowed the Blazers to keep their semifinals streak – a solid run for a team that for years lingered on the bottom half of the NCAA before Tiu and Strong Group Athletics took the helm.
Still, he knows that reaching the semifinals is but a mere checkpoint for them. They’ll always be judged this season on whether they win the championship or not .
“It’s our fourth straight final four. It’s something we can be proud of but again the job’s not done because our goal is to win a championship,” he said.
“Anything short would be a disappointment for me and for our team.”
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