AT last, Mason Amos faced his former team and coach, but to say that he and La Salle were beat would be an understatement.
Already coming off a narrow win against Far Eastern University, the Green Archers entered the rivalry game looking to stop steamrolling Ateneo. Instead, they swallowed an 81-74 defeat, with a deficit as big as 33.
READ: Ateneo quells late La Salle uprising to stay spotless in UAAP Season 88
It wasn’t all bad, though, as the green-and-white literally let its arrows fly in the final frame, trumping the Blue Eagles' 32-point third quarter with 36 of their own.
Unfortunately, the hole was too deep to climb out of in time, as La Salle fell to 2-2 in a season where it's being seen as the team to beat.
For his part, Amos only chipped in six points in 2-of-7 shooting from the field in 25 minutes of play.
“I'm just gonna be straight honest, we really played really bad, and it's a bit obvious. You guys saw what happened in the first half,” he told reporters post-game.
Of course, the 6-foot-7 forward was a focal point of the marquee match-up, and he heard nothing but boos from the Ateneo side of the Mall of Asia Arena since warm-ups.
Though stats would suggest that the thousands of hecklers from the sea of blue got to him, he brushed it off, saying “There’s really nothing to comment about it. That’s how they feel, and that’s gonna be how they feel for the rest of the season.”
And more pointedly, a few highlights of breakout player Dom Escobar came at Amos' expense, as the former sought the latter out on switches and wasted no time going one-on-one.
“He is a good player, so I take full responsibility on that too,” Amos answered when asked about it by SPIN.ph. “I got beat, and I have no excuses for that. It’s just a wake up call for me, and I’m just gonna stay grounded.”
“I knew I already had defensive deficiencies, and people knew about it also, even before. I’ve been trying to work on it, and I know that people are expecting a lot of progress, but I’m trying,” he added.
Boo Eagles
It may already be more than a year since his departure to ‘greener pastures,’ but it was not too long ago when the Blue Eagles faithful fantasized about the future pairing of Amos and Jared Bahay.
Though the dream encountered a hitch when Bahay crossed Katipunan Avenue to the University of the Philippines, Bahay’s surprise decommitment and return in January 2024 reignited hope for coach Tab Baldwin's next generation of title contenders.
Ultimately, Bahay and Amos in Ateneo ended up being a fever dream after all, with the latter being the one to break it up in July of the same year.
Fast forward to now, and unsurprisingly, all ties to his old alma mater have been cut for Amos.
“I mean, we don’t talk, so that tells you everything you need to know,” he expressed. “I just gotta keep moving forward. If they don’t want to talk to me, then I'm ok with it.”
Still, while the break-up was as bad as it comes, Amos is just looking to move forward from it.
As he put it, “I’m just trying to be mentally tough, you know, just being there for my teammates because my team needs me also. I just gotta be myself, I’m not gonna change who I am.”
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