Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
It’s usually thrown around that sports unite people for a common goal.
And for Bo Perasol, his team did just that when University of the Philippines upended Adamson University, 89-87, in its do-or-die match in the UAAP Season 81 men’s basketball Final Four.
Never in more than three decades that the Fighting Maroons advanced to the finals and never did a crowd of more than 20,000 people be predominantly maroon.
“Before all of this happened, there were a lot of articles saying that this team united a fractured community and the burden these players had was just to make an impact to the community,” said Perasol Wednesday at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Perasol added that he wants his players to entrench themselves in the UP identity that has produced countless lawyers, doctors, and public servants.
“I want to give them a moment that could unite everyone in a way that all of us can be together regardless of our inkling in politics or wherever.”
And leading UP to the finals for the first time in 32 years was also of personal note for Perasol, who himself was a Fighting Maroon in 1989 until 1993.
Perasol already owns the distinction of being UP’s most successful coach but he stressed that he wasn’t the school’s savior in the basketball landscape.
“It’s not just me who spearheaded this program, there’s also the administration, the recruits, the players, the coaching staff,” said Perasol who took up UP’s head coaching position in 2016. “Everyone contributed to UP’s success.”