Ateneo coach ‘under fire’ after La Salle win

Ateneo head coach Bo Perasol. Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

Ateneo’s defeat to La Salle last Sunday may turn out to be more than just an embarrassing setback against a fierce rival.

Talks of a possible mid-season coaching change at Ateneo swirled Monday, a day after mentor Bo Perasol and his Blue Eagles blew a 15-point advantage in a 80-76 loss to the Green Archers.

Sources from the Ateneo camp said several school officials and top financial supporters met yesterday to assess Perasol and the team’s campaign in the UAAP men’s basketball tournament.

But other team officials maintained late afternoon that Perasol remains at the helm.

The Eagles wrapped up the first round tied with the Archers at third spot at 4-3.

Although still in the top four, the Eagles’ recent meltdown came a week after they also blew a 16-point lead in a 68-58 loss to University of Santo Tomas.

Perasol said the Eagles hope to resolve their second-half collapse heading into the second round.

“We get a good start but the challenge is how can we make a good ending,” Perasol said.

“There’s no doubt in our minds we can compete with any team. But we have a tendency to relax in the third quarter.”

Perasol has been criticized for his “heavy reliance” on star Kiefer Ravena, who had a shooting slump the past week.

“How can we not go to him,” Perasol said of his fifth-year guard. “He’s our leader, he bailed us out in the past. There’s always a time a good player will have bad games.”

Perasol, who succeeded multititled mentor Norman Black, is no stranger to the heat since accepting one of the high-pressure coaching jobs in college basketball late 2012.

Calls for Perasol’s firing came right in his debut season in 2013, when the Eagles failed to advance to the Final Four after five straight championships.

The grumbling came again last year when the No. 1 Eagles got a shock boot from the fourth-ranked and eventual champion National University in the Final Four.