‘We just have to stay together,’ says Byrd as La Salle absorbs another loss

MANILA, Philippines—De La Salle is going through a rough patch to start its  UAAP Season 82 men’s basketball campaign and its latest loss is as gut-wrenching as it could be.

The Green Archers dropped their second assignment after Rey Suerte bailed out University of the East with back-to-back clutch three-pointers en route to an 89-88  win Saturday at Mall of Asia Arena.

Active consultant Jermaine Byrd, though, chose to focus on how La Salle should recover.

“Those are the breaks of the game but we got to get better and I believe we will just have to stay together,” said Byrd. “We have to block out all the outside noise, the disappointment, stay together, and understand that it’s still a long season.”

La Salle’s lone win so far was an 83-82 victory over National University but it was nearly stolen away after they allowed the Bulldogs to go on a 16-1 run in the fourth before Kurt Lojera saved the day for the men in green.

“You got to give their player a lot of credit, he was 5-of-7 from behind the three and that dagger three,” said Byrd of Suerte who had 31 points on 5-of-7 shooting from deep.

Nevertheless, Byrd is confident his team can bounce back from the disappointing loss to the Red Warriors.

“I still like the guys that we have and we just had a tough heartbreaking loss but that’s part of basketball,” said Byrd. “That’s the growing pains of basketball.”