UP Maroons. Photo from Filoil Flying V Sports Facebook account.
University of Perpetual Help whipped University of the Philippines, 73-61, to spoil the debut of Bo Perasol as the UP head coach on Wednesday in the Filoil Flying V Preseason Premier Cup at Filoil Flying V Center in San Juan.
Gab Daganon hardly missed from the three-point area, going 3-of-4, en route to a 15-point, eight-rebound outing in 20 minutes of action for the Altas.
“Defensively, we’re still not there yet because we’re more of an offensive team last season. But this season, we’ll see how we can strengthen our defense so we can be one of the best defensive teams in the league,” said the Altas’ rookie head coach Nosa Omorogbe, who played for the same school in the NCAA with his last playing year coming in Season 89.
Omorogbe wasn’t satisfied with his team’s defensive effort but it proved to be good enough as the Fighting Maroons were held to only seven points in the third quarter and were limited to just 32% from the field for the game.
Omorogbe also thinks the Altas are a deeper team compared last year despite the departure of its best player in Scottie Thompson.
“Actually, right now, I know Scottie’s a big loss for us but now we can rely more on ball movement,” he said.
“Last season we relied more on Bright and Scott but after watching all of the tapes after last season. It just came to my mind that we have a lot of talent,” Omorogbe added. “So how can we put all these talent together to become a better team? I just want to give all the players opportunity which what I’m trying to do right now. From my perspective, all of these guys are talented players.”
Newcomer Lionel Tekaoudjou was the lone Fighting Maroon in double-digits with 10 points.
The game marked Perasol’s debut for his alma mater after handling Ateneo for three years. His appointment was made official on Monday.
The Fighting Maroons just had two practices with Perasol prior to this game.