San Sebastian coach Topex Robinson INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines – San Sebastian coach Topex Robinson watched as Mapua rallied from what was once an insurmountable 20-point lead midway through the third quarter.
As the Stags’ lead continue to dwindle from 20 to 10 to seven then down to two, Robinson refused to call a timeout. He knew the best way to help a young team grow was to ‘let them play’ and ‘give full trust in my team that they could sustain that.’
The Stags couldn’t sustain it as the Cardinals kept coming back en route to a 104-99 double overtime stunner Monday night led by Joseph Eriobu’s 30 points and 11 rebounds.
“I want them to grow, I guess that’s one thing that coaches have to gamble on. That’s what I was telling them; it’s my mistake I should’ve called a timeout but I want them to grow together. They make mistakes, they learn. We’re not going to put this game behind us without the lessons learned. They have to grow and not be dependent on me,” said Robinson.
Robinson admitted that it was a mistake on his part and that he takes full responsibility of his team’s collapse.
Heart-breaking defeats usually translate to long post-game talks and tongue lashing in the dugout but Robinson would have none of that.
“It was a positive scenario there (in the dugout), I told them we win together, we lose together. I told them before they point finger at somebody, they should analyze themselves first and I told them again, you win games, you lose games. What’s important there is we’re going to stick together,” Robinson said.
The extra five-minute periods also served as added time for the Stags to learn according to Robinson.
“We lost to a better team tonight and lessons learned you know, it’s not over until it’s over. I still keep on remembering that I still have a young team. I just told them that it gave us an extra overtime period for us to learn. It’s preparing us for the upcoming games.”
Despite his team’s meltdown, Robinson still saw something to be proud of his team.
“What I like about the team is that they never gave up. At one point in the game they could’ve given up and just accept the loss but they just kept on fighting. Again it’s a long, long learning process for us. If we could learn a lot as early as now, it’s going to benefit us at the end,” commended Robinson.
“We fell into the trap na tapos na yung game in the third quarter or the second quarter. Again it’s my fault, I let them play. I told them that the next time we’re going to play them it’s going to be a different ball game.”