Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
Winning a championship brings forth one of the biggest responsibilities in all sports, and that is defending that all-important piece of hardware.
For Ateneo, though, defending its UAAP championship is just a mere piece of the puzzle.
“This season’s been one hell of a ride for this band of brothers, we feel we accomplished something, but we’re not satisfied with that,” said Ateneo Isaac Go, who emerged as one of the team’s go-to guys down the stretch in Season 80, Saturday.
Go hit the title-clinching 3-pointer that put Ateneo up 85-80 with 24.7 seconds left in Game 3 of the Season 80 Finals against La Salle.
Ateneo eventually closed the game out, 88-86, to claim its ninth seniors’ basketball title, its first since winning five straight from 2008 until 2012.
“We want another one next year and hopefully we can start, or top, the five-peat.”
Go’s statements, weren’t thrown to the wind though with head coach Tab Baldwin giving a more detailed, although metaphorical, answer.
“We managed to climb the mountain and now we stand on the plateau,” said Baldwin. “When we look up we see another peak and that’s where we’re headed.”
Of Atenoe’s roster, only Chibueze Ikeh, Kris Porter, and captain Vince Tolentino will be graduating.
And the Blue Eagles’ Season 80 triumph was the parting gift Baldwin and the remaining Blue Eagles gave the trio in their farewell.
“We want to enjoy this plateau, enjoy the view here, look at one another in the eye, and have that knowledge that each and every one of us played a great part in this,” said Baldwin.