TAB Baldwin was a picture of exhaustion after coaching Ateneo through historic, yet grueling triple overtime classic against University of Santo Tomas on Saturday.
And after a hardfought 98-89 defeat for the Blue Eagles, he minced no words when it came to "the third team."
READ: UST raids Jared's house, ruins Ateneo homecoming in 3OT classic
"There's a third team out there and I thought their performance was disgusting," he said, opting not to name names although conventional wisdom would say he's referring to the crew who officiated the match.
Nonetheless, the American-Kiwi mentor was just proud with how the blue-and-white fought even after finding themselves on the losing end for the second straight time in the UAAP Season 88 men's basketball tournament.
"There were a lot of guys that were playing on fumes in that game. And some of them couldn't even get across the finish line because they had given everything they had to give and that's a great testament to the game of basketball. It's a great testament to both teams and I'm exceptionally proud of our team," Baldwin said, while also praising the Growling Tigers for having the intestinal fortitude to pull off the victory.
"I tip my hat to coach Pido [Jarencio] and the UST team for pushing through and getting that W."
Indeed, Ateneo can hold its head up high after going through a nail-biter even as it saw its players go down one-by-one.
Kymani Ladi was fighting through cramps and had to sit out a chunk of the first OT, Divine Adili held his own against Collins Akowe before fouling out in the second overtime, and Jared Bahay opted to sit out the remainder of 3OT due to a hurting shoulder.
Given that, Baldwin could only sing the praises of his players, saying, "I'm very proud of the effort and the toughness and I don't have anything but respect for our players."
"We had chances to win the game and we didn't convert on those chances. But these are young players and those are the things that you look back and learn from. But we certainly don't have to talk about character."
It doesn't get any easier for Ateneo
This also continued a murderer's row of games for the Blue Eagles, who played three of the top teams in a span of seven days, winning against La Salle last Sunday then bowing to the University of the Philippines and UST.
"This has been one of the toughest weeks that I can remember in my time at UAAP, having to face La Salle, UP, and UST in seven days. We were hoping to get two out of this week, we came pretty bloody close and some would say we earned it, but it's disappointing not to get two," said the champion coach.
Now, Ateneo can rest and recover before shifting its attention to National University to close out the first round next weekend.
And Baldwin certainly is welcoming that break, as he plans to buckle the Blue Eagles up for the bigger wars to come in the second half of the season.
"Fortunately, we have a week to prepare for NU, so we'll be good," he said. "We'll have our energy back, we'll have our minds focused on the job, and we'll put this one behind us and focus on the only thing that matters now which is NU."
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