PAULO Hubalde would rather have University of the East build on its best performance in UAAP Season 89 than dwell on how deep its downward spiral has come.
The Red Warriors fell to the University of the Philippines, 81-91, on Saturday to match the second-longest losing streak in the Final Four era at 27 games.
READ: UP condemns UE to share of second-longest losing streak
Still, the red-and-white gave the league-leading Fighting Maroons a tougher fight than its winless record might suggest.
With that, Hubalde's priority is rebuilding his alma mater back into a proud program - and not lamenting the unwanted history it has made.
“I'm not concerned about that streak. I'm more concerned about my team and improving. If it's 27 or not, sabi ko sa kanila, ‘Wag niyong pansinin ‘yun,” he said.
“Kumbaga, ang importante, tayo, ‘yung team. ‘Yun naman ‘yung importante.”
The good news is despite losing all seven games in the first round, UE has shown signs of progress under Hubalde.
The challenge now is to turn those encouraging stretches into a breakthrough.
“We build from that. At the end of the day, we still have to work on our side of the game. So, build pa, build pa rin. Almost, lapit na namin,” he said.
UE Fight
The Red Warriors were actually getting the better of State U for stretches and even led by as many as 10 points, but ran out of gas in the final frame.
Still, Hubalde was encouraged by his players’ effort, just taking this loss as a reminder to compete for all 40 minutes.
“The guys gave their hearts out talaga. A game is played 40 minutes, ‘di naman 20 minutes lang. Sabi ko, last 20 minutes, dapat ibigay niyo na lahat,” he said.
And pushing UP, which had won two of the last five championships, to the limit is nonetheless a morale boost for a UE side which hasn't had a lot to be hopeful about in the last two years.
“Like I said, we're trying to build everything that we can. Maximize these kids and their full potential,” Hubalde said.
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