THREE wins, at most, were all UST could pull off in the last three UAAP seasons.
Through the darkest of days and worst of results, Christian Manaytay never looked elsewhere, never gave up, and always believed that the sun will shine again in España.
READ: 'Never Say Die' UST piles onto NU's woes in UAAP Season 87
The 24-year-old senior now finds himself in a Growling Tigers squad that has won three of its first four matches in his final playing year — a promising sign of a long-overdue UST renaissance.
All will be all right in time
In hindsight, however, Manaytay knew that when it comes to UST being a competitive unit that can run the show in the UAAP like it used to in decades past, it just wasn’t to be.
“Nakakalungkot ‘yung mga seasons na ‘yun knowing na you think you can do it, but it really showed that we’re not ready for that,” Manaytay told SPIN.ph.
“Hopefully, this season, I think I can tell na we’re ready. We’re coming into this year at pinaparamdam namin na we’re not that kind of team anymore that we were in previous years.”
Even if the door was left open for him to take his talents to a new home, Manaytay knew he was a man on a mission with something to prove for the school that took a chance on him.
“I wanna prove to myself na I can win with this team, in this school. I need to prove to myself na I can help this team win. I need to prove to them na kaya kong ipanalo ‘yung team,” he added.
Hear them growl
Even with a much-younger UST team this time, they do have the pieces on the court and from the sidelines to relive España’s glory days.
From an ever-blunt champion mentor in Pido Jarencio to impact additions such as Forthsky Padrigao and Amiel Acido to go along with stalwarts like Manaytay and Nic Cabañero, the time could be now for the Tigers to growl their loudest.
But it will take some wise and level-headed minds on the court to make the dream happen for UST once and for all.
“Maturity. Ako, I think maturity-wise, we need to be more calm, collected, and patient with the process. It was a really hard process pero I’m happy na we’re in this time na nakakakuha na kami ng panalo that tested our character,” said Manaytay.
“3-1 is good, but we need to do better.”
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