A final four spot in the NCAA Season 99 men's basketball tournament is now well within reach of Mapua University after a valiant 83-77 victory against Emilio Aguinaldo College that sent them back at solo top spot with an 11-3 card.
The Cardinals now only need to keep this momentum going in their remaining games in the elimination round to formally punch their return to the semifinals after missing out last season.
Mapua assistant coach JR Carlos, however, said the coaching staff keeps on reminding the players not to get complacent as they still have targets on their back, making their last few assignments more challenging.
"Masaya kami kasi ito naman iyong gusto namin eh pero gaya lang ng laging pinapaalala ng coaches gaya ni coach Randy [Alcantara] sa team na hindi namin dapat tingnan kung nasaan kami ngayon," Carlos said in the post-game interview.
"Kumbaga, one game at a time kasi walang madali eh."
(We're happy since this is what we want but coaches like coach Randy always tell the team that we should not look at where we are now. We'll take it one step at a time since nothing is easy.)
Carlos pointed out that they should treat their win against the Generals as a lesson moving forward.
Against the wards of EAC head coach Jerson Cabiltes, the Cardinals almost blew a 19-point lead with JP Maguliano and Kyle Ochavo rallying the Generals and cutting the deficit to just two, 73-75, with 1:34 left in the fourth period.
Thanks to their endgame poise, the Cardinals ultimately emerged victorious with Clint Escamis having another stellar outing alongside JC Recto and Warren Bonifacio.
"Kita na kita naman natin we're up by 19 pero pumikit ka lang saglit... talagang walang sobrang dali. Ang problema is yung nasa amin, kung ano 'yung approach namin both on offense and defense, kung paano namin i-e-execute 'yung game plan."
(We saw that we're up by 19 but in a blink of an eye, there really is nothing easy. The problem is with us, on how we approach the game both on offense and defense, how we execute our game plan.)
—JKC, GMA Integrated News
