KAI Ballungay would be the first to admit that Game One of the UAAP Season 85 men's basketball finals left a really bad taste in his mouth.
"Game One, it didn't go the way I wanted it, the way this team wanted it," Ballungay said, looking back on that 72-66 Ateneo defeat to University of the Philippines last Sunday where he went scoreless in 17 minutes.
[READ: Why Game 3 of UAAP Finals will be played on a Monday]
Ballungay, however, was quick to redeem himself with a superb 15-point, 5-rebound performance that enabled the Blue Eagles to equalize this best-of-three championship series and force a title decider on Monday.
"I just wanted to impact the game anywhere that I could, whether that be on the glass, scoring, whatever it is. I just wanted to help this team," said the Fil-Am winger.
But it's not just him as the rest of the team simply refused to have their season end in Game Two.
And it showed, with Ateneo outworking UP on the floor and not backing down from the heightened physicality that the bigger spotlight brings.
"Coming to this game, we just wanted to be more physical than we were in Game One. I feel like we wanted to be the aggressors this time and we wanted to hit first. And I think it really showed throughout this game," he said.
Ballungay said this kind of performance is what will bring the UAAP crown back to the Blue Eagles' lair in Katipunan.
"I feel like it's this type of mentality that we need to carry going into Game Three that's gonna give us this championship title," he said.
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