PBA IMAGES
AMA Online Education head Mark Herrera attributed his team’s recent struggles to its inexperience after losing its second straight game on Thursday in the 2017 PBA D-League Aspirants’ Cup.
AMA slipped to 2-2 after suffering close shaves at the hands of Racal and Tanduay.
“We fought tough teams in our last two games. Maybe it’s our lack of experience and us coming together late which came out. Eventually, we’ll recover. But at least now, we showed that we can compete,” Herrera said.
Still, Herrera is happy knowing that his team fought until the end.
Jeron Teng has been dazzling for the Titans so far but Herrera admits he needs his other players to contribute.
“We need more help for Jeron. He’s the one who’s consistent in scoring and rebounding, he’s complete. But it’s his teammates who I want to see more. I hope more ingredients will be added.”
Teng, meanwhile, doesn’t mind carrying the load for AMA, but said that when the defense zeroes in on him, he’s more than willing to be a distributor for his squad, just like what happened in the Titans’ game against the Rhum Masters.
“In this game, they went on a zone on us. When defense plays zone, you really have to play as a team, you got to share the ball and make those outside shots,” he said.
Averaging a league-best 26.5 points through four games, Teng maintains the same outlook game-in and game-out, keeping in mind the goal he has set when he joined the squad.
“Coming to the games, my mentality is just giving my best. I always make sure that when I step inside the court, I’ll give my 100 percent,” he said. “I think of the bigger prize and that is bringing AMA to the semis. Of course, we have to take it one game at a time, but we have to secure the quarters first. I want to bring AMA to higher rankings this year.”
And that’s exactly the mentality Herrera expects from his wards, especially on Monday when AMA takes on Jose Rizal University.
“If we lose against JRU, we will go down. We’re after the outright semis and the twice-to-beat. We begin here at JRU and we hope we sustain our run.”