WHILE Ateneo head coach Tab Baldwin lauded his team's 'gutsy' display in a thrilling fightback over rival La Salle, he was not entirely pleased.
"I think we found some fight. It was lacking last game and to find it is very rewarding. However, the quality of performance needs to be better but I think it will get better. This is a tough game to try and go out and be efficient when you have that emotion and intensity of the opposition," Baldwin said.
READ: Real Ateneo shows up, rallies past La Salle to get title defense going
"We didn’t execute our offense in the first half. We were, I think, frenetic because of the emotion of the game. This is a byproduct of a very young and inexperienced team," Baldwin explained.
"Second half, we kept our offensive actions more simple. We did a better job but still you can’t be too happy shooting 33 percent. When we got the ball to the right places, we had more efficiency. But we spent too much of the game not putting the ball in the right hands at the right time," he added.
'Gutsy' but 'not a great basketball win'
Down by nine in the closing stretch, the Eagles fough back behind Kai Ballungay, Chris Koon, and rookie Mason Amos.
"This was a gutsy win. It wasn’t a great basketball win. I wanna play better basketball," Baldwin said. "People say ‘would you be satisfied losing?’ If we play good basketball, probably. I’m not overly satisfied when we don’t play good basketball and win, but I’m really happy with the gutsy performance," he added.
Baldwin also lauded the Archers for yet another stellar chapter to the storied rivalry.
"You couldn’t get a more worthy opponent. So that’s what I guess makes the rivalry great, what made this game great is we really fought hard. And it was just kind of even because of how tough La Salle is and how proud their team and their program and their coaching staff are."
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