FOR most of Tuesday, Jose Rizal University looked like a team in need of a reminder to work.
Then Arellano punched JRU in the mouth, erased their swagger with a 14-point lead and forced Nani Epondulan’s side to dig into the very mantra he has preached even before NCAA Season 102: “Walang pa-pogi, kailangan talaga trabaho.”
READ: Mangubat finds touch just in time in JRU's comeback win over AU
The Heavy Bombers had to live by it after the Chiefs sent them to a sizable hole it had to climb out of before they could complete their comeback.
“Sabi ko sa nga kanila, walang pa-pogi, kailangan talaga trabaho. ’Yung mga ganitong klaseng laro, ito yung bubuo sa’min sa team. Dito sila mag-mamature,” Epondulan said.
“At the same time, iba ‘yung experience na dala ng mga ganitong dikitan na laro kaysa ‘yung mga tambak-tambak na laro. Sabi ko sa kanila, you just have to embrace the moment.”
The game was hardly pretty for Lawrence Mangubat, either. The JRU guard went just 5-of-23 from the field, but stayed patient through the misses before finding his touch when it mattered most, drilling two clutch triples late in the fourth quarter to help complete the fightback.
“Before nag-start ‘yung game, sinabihan ako ni coach Nani na kailangan mahaba ‘yung pasensya mo, kasi ‘yung defensa nila sa akin, i-eexpect ko na ganun na talaga. Naging ready lang ako at hinabaan ko lang yung pasensya ko,” Mangubat said.
That patience is part of what Epondulan is trying to build into the Heavy Bombers. Mangubat said the team treats even its ordinary practices as a chance to sharpen its edge.
“It's an everyday process para sa amin. Kahit sa mga simpleng drills, hindi ko sila pinapa-relax. Sa mga scrimmages namin, especially ‘yung mga rookies, pinapalaban ko talaga sila. Kung pwede mag-pisikalan, pwede,” he said.
“Gino-go hard ko talaga, sineseryoso ko talaga para sa sarili ko at para sa team.”
Arellano certainly made JRU work for it, setting the tone early and forcing the Heavy Bombers to respond. It was precisely the kind of game Epondulan wanted his team to experience.
“Dito sila mag-mamature,” he said.
JRU did not need to make its comeback look pretty. It just needed to make the right plays, embrace the grind and, true to Epondulan’s battlecry, choose trabaho over ‘pa-pogi’ when the game was on the line.
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