BRIAN Heruela can still see some positives despite Blackwater reeling to another loss in the PBA Governors’ Cup.
The Elite showed promising signs early on as they led the entire first half, before surrendering to Meralco, 87-72, on Friday that left them alone at the bottom with a 1-5 win-loss card.
“We played good defense and we executed well (in the first half),” Heruela said in a chat with Spin.ph. “I think if we sustained the momentum, we could’ve won the game.”
The Elite limited the Bolts to just 12 points in the first quarter, but ended up allowing Meralco to make 31 of their 66 shots overall from two-point range for a solid 47 percent.
“We weren’t disciplined enough defensively,” said Heruela, who. “We gave up a lot of easy layups, so it’s something we got to pick up next game.”
Reil Cervantes echoed his teammate’s sentiment.
“Yung defense tsaka decision-making sa loob ng court kulang pa, tsaka parang kulang rin sa teamwork,” said the versatile forward, who contributed just five points on 1-of-7 shooting in 26 minutes.
Heruela, arguably the Elite’s most consistent local, finishing as the only player in his team in double-digit scoring aside from import Marcus Douthit with 12 points, is still not losing hope despite Blackwater facing another early elimination with five games left.
“We just got to keep going, practicing together,” the rookie point guard said. “We got to do it together as a team. We just got to move on.”