Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
It wasn’t the season-ender University of the Philippines wanted, but four of its seniors are leaving with no regrets.
After UP failed to make the Final Four, Paolo Romero and Andrew Harris, who both spent seven years donned in maroon, and Ibrahim Quattara and Rob Ricafort, who combined for just three, played their last game as Fighting Maroon.
With Quattara as an exception, UP’s seniors rarely got playing time this UAAP Season 80, but in the Fighting Maroons’ final elimination game, head coach Bo Perasol let his elder statesmen feel the aural embrace of the crowd for one last time.
“What I had in mind was I was supposed to cry but I’m not crying,” said Romero Saturday at Smart Araneta Coliseum after their 106-81 win over National University.
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“We’re all happy, we gave it our best, we left everything inside the court. Whatever happens, we know deep inside we don’t have any regrets.”
The Fighting Maroons’ win over the Bulldogs saw them finish the eliminations with a 6-8 record—the school’s best record in more than a decade. But later in the day, Far Eastern University capped its schedule with a 71-54 victory over Adamson to complete the Final Four cast with Ateneo and De La Salle.
For Ricafort, who was in a legal tangle even before the season started, his three minutes on the floor was already too much of a parting gift for him.
READ: Court allows Ricafort to continue playing for UP
“Every time we’re on the court, we’re always giving it our best,” said Ricafort in Filipino. “It doesn’t matter how many minutes we played, every time we’re on the court we give everything we can.”
“We want to continue playing, we wanted to take any chance that was given to us,” said Harris. who had two points in his final collegiate game.
Quattara, the only starter of the seniors, was aware of the position they finished in and the most they could do was give themselves a temporary lease in life.
“It was almost a do-or-die game,” said Quattara, who finished with 12 points and 13 rebounds. “We have to give ourselves a chance so that’s what we did. Even if it’s going to be our last game, we made sure we would finish in a good way.”