University of the East (UE) head coach Jack Santiago and his players will head back to the FilOil EcoOil Centre in San Juan on Saturday despite having wrapped up their elimination round run in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 87 men’s basketball tournament.
The Red Warriors will be scouting and praying for a favorable result in the match between Adamson University and also-ran Ateneo de Manila University to determine their fate in their bid to catch the elusive bus ride to the Final Four.
Struck by a five-game losing slump to finish the eliminations with a 6-8 win-loss record, UE will be cheering for the Blue Eagles to send the Falcons, the other remaining contender for the last semifinal seat, to an early vacation.
A win by Adamson (5-8) will force a playoff for the right to face top seed and twice-to-beat defending champion De La Salle University in the Final Four.
“I told the boys that we need to pray. Before our destiny is within our hands. But right now, our destiny is not within our control anymore,” Santiago said following a sorry 77-67 loss to semis-bound and twice-to-beat University of the Philippines Wednesday night.
“We just need a good result in the Ateneo-Adamson game.”
UE had a great run to close the first round racking up five wins in a row after opening the season with back-to-back losses.
However, the Red Warriors’ hot run turned ice-cold as they went 1-6 in the second round.
“Imagine we ended up 5-2 in the first round. We lost to La Salle (in the second round) so, 5-3. Then we beat NU for a 6-3 (record). That time with the way things were going in the standings, getting seven wins is enough to reach the Final Four,” Santiago said.
The Red Warriors only needed one more win to end a 15-year semis drought. But it never came in five excruciating tries.
Santiago saw his team’s meltdown as a classic case of crumbling under tremendous pressure. He admitted that his wards had a hard time treading unfamiliar territory.