PURE mental lapse.
That's how deputy coach Jamike Jarin described Orin Catacutan's snafu in University of the East's 77-61 loss to National University on Saturday.
Catacutan had his Shaqtin' moment on Saturday when he got the rebound off a missed Janjan Felicilda free throw, spun and bafflingly scored on an own goal at the 3:56 mark of the third quarter.
It's a move that he only realized when the referee motioned him to inbound the ball for UE.
It's a blemish to what was otherwise a solid showing from the St. Clare transferee who had 11 points and three rebounds in the loss, the team's seventh of the season to remain winless in this campaign.
Catacutan has been a key piece to the Red Warriors' attack with his 7.8 points and 2.7 boards in his first year in Recto.
Jamike Jarin says the team is moving on from the blooper.
But for Jarin, it's just reflective of the crew's inexperience.
"Again, we're very young team. He forgot where he was and he accidentally he scored," he said. "We were emphasizing that we're getting beat off the boards by NU. And when he found himself free, he just tried to score."
Rather than focus on the boo-boo, Jarin said that what he liked is how the rest of the Red Warriors responded to the mistake, saying, "The best thing about it is after he made blunder, nobody blamed him, nobody laughed, and we moved on to the next play."
Instead of being a downer of a moment, Jarin is also hopeful that Catacutan uses the gaffe as a moment of learning, that despite the tough season that UE finds itself in, the team will still try to pull together in hopes of performing better the next time out.
"Everybody makes mistakes," he said. "This is what we're trying to preach here: we all make mistakes, no matter how big or small it is, but what matters is how we recover and learn from those experience. We're honing these young players in hopes of turning them to be responsible individuals and mistakes like these will only help them become better players moving forward."
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