FRUSTRATION is starting to show in this Letran side as it absorbed its third straight loss to open the NCAA Season 101 after a 95-80 setback to St. Benilde on Wednesday at the Playtime Filoil Center in San Juan.
Letran bigs Mark Omega and Kevin Santos were seen in a heated argument on the floor right after the singing of the alma mater hymn, pretty much showing that the despair of starting 0-3 is starting to get to these Knights.
READ: Benilde pulls away late to pounce on Letran's misery in NCAA S101
But while public spats like that one may not be a good look for teams, Letran coach Allen Ricardo is looking at it differently.
For him, he sees it as two competitive players tired of losing and he hopes that this will be the turning point as the Knights try to turn things around.
“Siyempre it’s frustration pero we already addressed it. Tinapos na namin dito. It happens,” Ricardo stated. “I do believe for me, it’s healthy somehow because andun yung parang ‘pare andito na tayo e, andun na yun e.’ Kumbaga yung willingness to win andun, of course diba.”
The sophomore collegiate coach also added that they’ve already fixed their issues in the locker room in their lengthy post-game meeting, assuring that they’ve already left their issues in there.
“On the other hand, the most important thing is we settled things before kami umalis sa dugout na maayos at may clarity."
Almost, but not quite once more
The Knights looked poised to take win number one, as they erased an early 15 point lead in the first half and started to take control late in the third quarter.
But just like in their loss against the Red Lions, the end game proved to be the killer for these Knights after allowing the Blazers to 30 big points in the final quarter to lose control of the match.
Ricardo acknowledged that they can’t win every game, but he himself knows they’re in no position to lose more if they want to keep their championship aspirations alive.
“Kinakapos sa dulo, I guess that’s maturity din. It will take some time. Talagang a lot of games you’ll experience losses, pero siyempre hindi naman pwedeng sa talo ka lang natututo, pwede ka namang matuto ng nananalo ka,” he said.
“Alam nila yun. Again, it’s all about the attitude and the body language, doon nagsisimula yun. Whether you’re playing on the court or you’re coming off the bench, nandun lagi yung support sa isa’t isa.”
As rough as their sails are now, Ricardo isn’t losing his faith in his players as aside from the talent, he knows the type of character of these boys.
“Ako malaki yung paniniwala ko na makakabalik yung team na’to,” he shared.
“Sa dami narin naming mga laban na pinagdaanan, local and international, nakita ko yung grit e. Yun yung isa sa mga missing. I hope makabalik kami doon.”
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