Kevin Quiambao’s sour shooting had prompted De La Salle University to absorb a shocking 71-75 loss to University of the East (UE) in Season 87 University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) men’s basketball tournament late Sunday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
But it doesn’t mean that he no longer has the support of the Green Archers.
La Salle coach Topex Robinson led the rally behind their embattled leader, reiterating his claim that they are willing to go wherever he takes them.
“Obviously, you don’t wanna lose games, but we want to learn from those. It’s a wake-up call for everybody. This is what I was saying that KQ (Quiambao) will lose games for us, but it’s not gonna change the dynamics — he’s still gonna be our guy,” said Robinson shortly after suffering their first loss of the season.
“Wherever he goes, we’re gonna follow.”
Barely two weeks after knocking down the game-winning jumper in their 78-75 win over National University in the opener, Quiambao was not in his element offensively, especially in the free throw line where he missed six out of his 10 attempts.
His biggest blunder, however, was when he missed a pair of charities in the final 15.8 seconds that paved the way for John Abate to knock down his freebies that sealed their frustrating loss.
Quiambao ended the night with 17 points, nine rebounds and five assists, but his botched performance in the crucial stretch haunted him to the point that he rushed back to training right after the game.
“I was unlucky the entire game. I tried engaging the crowd so I could feel the hype but it still didn’t work. A bad game is a bad game. In fact, I will practice my mistakes right away. I’m on my way to the gym after this,” a dejected Quiambao said.
“I will carry all the learnings we had to the next game. As Coach Topex said: This is a wake-up call for us.”
Robinson took responsibility for the setback, where they trailed by as many as 17 points at the end of the first period and missed a total of 16 free throws the erstwhile unbeaten and mighty Green Archers out of their comfort zones.
The Red Warriors also had answers to their uprisings, thanks to the brilliant game plan of coaches Jack Santiago and Don Allado with the help of strength and conditioning mentor LA Revilla, who knows the Green Archers like the back of their hands after leading them to memorable wins during their respective UAAP careers.
“Blaming each other is the worst thing that we can do. Life goes on for us. We have to focus on FEU (Far Eastern University) on Wednesday, so we cannot cry over spilled milk anymore,” he said.