WITH all due respect to the UAAP Commissioner's Office, University of the East coach Jack Santiago feels that Precious Momowei got the short end of the stick for the one-game suspension he was handed.
READ: UAAP upholds suspension on UE's Precious Momowei
"We have nothing against the UAAP, but for me, hindi tama yung naging desisyon. Even coach Tab [Baldwin], before the game, said that he was disappointed. But that was the decision of the technical [committee] and kailangan yun sundin," he said.
Without Momowei, the Red Warriors stumbled to their fourth straight defeat with another 71-67 heartbreaker to Ateneo on Wednesday.
READ: Ateneo adds onto misery of Final Four-seeking UE
The Nigerian big's presence was clearly missed by the red-and-white, as it played without their main man in an all-important game in the Season 87 men's basketball tournament to slip to a 6-7 record.
Though Santiago lauded his players for stepping up, particularly Rain Maga and Devin Fikes, UE's efforts still ended up in smokes.
And Santiago wouldn't deny that somehow, this dry spell has already affected the team's psyche, derailing their goals of advancing to the Final Four after a solid 5-2 start.
"Psychologically, mentally, parang affected na yung players, so kailangan namin yun ma-overcome. Parang nasa quicksand kami na the more na kumilos ka, the more na malulubog ka," he said.
"We just need to cross that hump, (so I) told the players to play within the system, and mas kailangan namin mag-stick together."
UE UP to the task?
That should be truer than ever with the mighty University of the Philippines standing in the Red Warriors' way of gaining an outright semifinals berth.
"This will be a test of character sa mga boys and hopefully, we can go back to playing UE basketball," said Santiago.
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