Baldwin, Eagles stay focused on ultimate goal despite first loss
Tab Baldwin. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
Ateneo coach Tab Baldwin shrugged off his team’s failed bid to sweep the elimination phase of the UAAP Season 80 following a loss to La Salle on Sunday.
“We need to put that in perspective. It would have been nice to have, but that’s it — it would have been nice. We still have to win the title. So now we just have a different route to try and do what we really wanna do,” Baldwin said after the Blue Eagles dropped a 79-76 decision to suffer their first setback of the season.
“Things like sweeps and undefeated seasons are things you dream about, but you got to leave them behind pretty quick. Even if we win today, we got to leave it behind because the golden apple that we’re after is still in front of us.”
Baldwin also said the loss did nothing to affect the psyche of his players heading into its Final Four date with Far Eastern University on Sunday.
“They’re fine and they understand. We talked about it before the game. We talked about it at halftime. In fact, at halftime, I told them the way we played in the first half, I hope we lose because we didn’t deserve the win the way we were playing,” said Baldwin, whose team committed 15 turnovers in the first half.
“I think we solved that problem in the the third quarter. We rediscovered who we were but then again, in the fourth quarter, you got to give credit to La Salle’s energy, effort, defensive changes, and our foul trouble. We just could not overcome that.”
As much as Baldwin credited La Salle for the way the defending champs performed in the crucial stretch, he couldn’t help but call out the officials for how they handled the game late.
Isaac Go and Chibueze Ikeh were both saddled by foul trouble while Vince Tolentino fouled out with still 2:05 left to play, the same stretch when La Salle made its killer 10-0 run.
“I thought we played really well. I thought we put ourselves in a great position to win the game, but again, La Salle was still there. They’re a great team. And again, the lineups that we had to put out there were different lineups that we played through most of the season, and they weren’t as effective and as efficient and they’re never going to be,” he said.
“So you know, if we get into a situation in a huge environment like that, referees choose to put quality players on the bench with very, very soft calls, that’s what they get. They get a game of lesser quality than what the fans should get or what the TV audience should get. Fans in the audience should’ve seen Ikeh and George out on the floor more than they did today, and I think that’s a shame that they weren’t.”
Moving on, Baldwin shifted his focus on the Tamaraws, whom the Blue Eagles should not take lightly.
“They’re really tough. We played them last year and they took the first game from us. I don’t have any doubts about our players’ mentality. We understand the importance of being ready for the next game and that’s not gonna change,” he said.
“We’ve set that template, we’ve adhered to it all year long. We’re not gonna stray from that now. FEU is an outstanding basketball team and they’re absolutely worthy semifinalists and we’re gonna have a tough game with them.”
