Frustrations mount for CJ Perez, Columbian as losses start to pile up

MANILA, Philippines—Honeymoon’s over for CJ Perez.

After a 2-1 start into the PBA Philippine Cup, including a stunning 124-118 win over defending champion San Miguel, Columbian has started to crumble and lost three straight to a 2-4 record.

The Dyip’s latest loss was against undermanned Alaska, 94-72, Wednesday at Mall of Asia Arena and the mounting losses are not sitting well with Perez.

“It’s just frustrating,” said Perez, the top overall pick of the 2018 PBA Rookie Draft, in Filipino. “ We just have to face it because that’s the game of basketball.”

“We will win, we will lose and we just have to regroup and focus on what we have to do. We’ll look into what we did wrong and where we lacked as a team. Of course effort, we always have to give effort.”

The Dyip failed to exploit the Aces’ depleted lineup that had no Vic Manuel, Kevin Racal, JVee Casio, and Simon Enciso and was stuck in a tough bind practically since the start of the game.

Columbian not only shot poorly from the field, 25-of-68, but was also as horrendous in the free throw line missing 23 of its freebies for a 14-of-37 clip.

Alaska, meanwhile, ran circles around the Dyip’s defense scoring on a 39-of-90 rate.

“It’s frustrating especially when we’re missing free throws,” said Perez who had 15 points and five rebounds. “We missed more than 20 and I think that was one of the factors why Alaska made some leeway.”