Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
Isaac Go took the blame for Ateneo’s first loss in UAAP Season 80 when it fell to defending champion La Salle on Sunday night.
With the Blue Eagles trailing by one, Go blew a gimme—a short hook—off a sideline inbound play in the final 10 seconds of the game.
“I think I just tried to make the best basketball play I could at that time. That’s what I just did,” Go, who was found open by Anton Asistio, said after the Blue Eagles’ 76-79 loss to the Green Archers.
That play was reminiscent of Ateneo’s playbook in 2006 designed by then Ateneo mentor Norman Black with Macky Escalona and Doug Kramer conspiring in Game 1 of the UAAP Season 69 Finals. The difference, then, was that Kramer made the shot.
Go hopes to quickly put his costly miss behind him
“Coach Tab (Baldwin) has always been preaching to try to play without the emotion, next play mentality. But I think I still have to learn how to take out the emotion in my game,” he admitted. “Veteran players will just shake it off then next game. But I think my emotion overcame and I still held to the past. I wasn’t focusing on the next play or the next game.”
“If you hold on to the past, that holds you. You try to think what could I have done, maybe after the game. Yes, it’s nice to review that, but during the course of the game where the next game happens immediately, you can’t allow something to let that hinder you from the way you play and think.”
Go added that moments like this should serve as a lesson for him to become a better player.
“I’m a young player, but that can’t be the excuse,” he said. “You let emotion overcome you, you don’t think, you just act. That is something that I still have to learn. Those are the things that make great players, because they are able to take the mistakes out of the game, the emotion, the next mistake, the next game. That is how I think I still have to grow as a player.”
Go has now his eyes set on the Final Four, where the top-seeded Blue Eagles will take on Far Eastern University on Sunday.
“They’re a tough team. Coach Olsen (Racela) knows how we play because a lot of us played for the Philippine team. We have to prepare and that’s what we’re gonna do,” he said.