La Salle Green Archers’ Mike Philipps. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines — Mike Phillips urged the De La Salle Green Archers to stay together after getting a baptism of fire at the hands of the mighty University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons in the UAAP Season 86 men’s basketball Finals opener.
Phillips shone in his Finals debut with 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting and grabbed nine rebounds but La Salle absorbed a 30-point blowout to UP, 97-67, in Game 1 on Wednesday at Mall of Asia Arena.
“We got punched in the mouth today and we can’t let this break us. Our win streak started from a loss, and so, we’re gonna try to do the same thing as much as we can,” said Phillips after the loss. “You gotta give credit to UP, they played a great game. Everybody, they were very physical, they really wanted it, they wanted it more than us.”
The Green Archers’ nine-game winning streak was ended by the Fighting Maroons, who beat them in the first round before building a huge momentum entering the Finals.
The third-year big man seeks to use the biggest losing margin in a UAAP Finals series opener as a motivation to come back stronger.
“That’s something we can really take as motivation and of course, everybody hates this taste. Ayoko talaga yung lasa na to, lalo na pag La Salle-UP,” he said.
It may be the first finals of La Salle in six years against the more experienced UP but Phillips said their learnings from the elimination are enough to help them come back from a blowout loss.
“Kahit ito po yung first finals namin, we’ve been in this situation before. You know, we’ve lost together, we’ve won together. Yun ang maganda sa first round namin, hindi naman streak, hindi naman puro panalo. So, natikman namin itong lasa na to, so that will help us, moving forward, it’s not our first loss — especially it’s not our first loss to UP,” said Phillips.
Phillips and the Green Archers try to force a decider when they fight for their lives in Game 2 on Sunday at Smart Araneta Coliseum.