BY Andrei Barrantes
DOUBTS certainly clouded the minds of the NU-Nazareth School faithful ahead of their return to the UAAP boys' basketball finals against Manu Inigo and his hungry Tiger Cubs.
Aside from losing to University of Santo Tomas to end eliminations, Collins Akowe wasn’t playing like his usual self the past two games.
But all hesitations were swiftly silenced when Akowe and Co. tamed the Tiger Cubs in Game 1, with the presumptive first-ever Best Foreign Student-Athlete dropping 24 points and 22 rebounds.
READ: Bullpups tame Tiger Cubs in highly-charged Game 1
After their victory, the 19 year old spoke on the pressure that built up inside him the previous weeks, which he attributes to being the reason for his subpar performances as of late.
“The pressure was in me. I would say (I was) being anxious,” he told SPIN.ph.
“This is my last season, I'm graduating, so I don't wanna make mistakes because this is the only opportunity I have of bringing back the championship to Nazareth.”
With personal hurdles in front of him, Akowe doubled his effort to ensure that he was ready - in all aspects - to go in the opener of the best-of-three series.
As he put it, “Coming into this game, I had to prepare myself mentally and physically. I know I had bad games the last couple of two games, so i just had to stay locked in, get the job done, and do my part.”
FSA vs. FSA
Aside from putting the Bullpups on his broad shoulders, the Nigerian big also sought to address the comments made by UST head coach Inigo, who claimed that their FSA in Racine Kane was better than Akowe.
“If I’m not mistaken, I think he said it twice. I’m not pissed, it is what it is. If you feel you’re better than me, so be it. Lets step on the basketball court and play basketball. I love competition,” NUNS' big exclaimed.
Of course, Inigo's words were more motivational for his own player rather than a slight at his now-finals foe.
READ: UST's Kane raring for last shot to prove worthy to stand beside NUNS' Akowe
Still, Akowe made it a point to impose his will on Kane and whoever the Tiger Cubs tried to put in front of him.
“I saw the way they played me the last game, they were physical. So coming into this game, I was ready. Physically, mentally, I was prepared," he said.
“The coaches were like, ‘Collins, you can see they’re sitting on you, the defense was focused on you.’ So this time around I just had to do the little things to make sure we win. If I can score, grab the rebound, play defense, that's all I did. The scoring came, but I didn't actually push it,” he added.
With their dominator down low back to, well, dominating, the gears are going along for coach Kevin de Castro and his Bullpups.
Now, it's time to see if Inigo, Kane, and UST can make good on their turn to send a statement.
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