De La Salle University star Mason Amos was showered with jeers in his first game against his former team, Ateneo de Manila University, in Season 88 of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines men’s basketball tournament on Sunday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
But the 6-foot-7 forward is simply brushing it off and moving on.
Amos said their much-anticipated game against the Blue Eagles was “just another game” in which they trailed by as many as 33 points before suffering a 74-81 setback that left them with a 2-2 win-loss record.
Amos had a forgettable night, scoring six points on 2-of-7 shooting in 25 minutes of play while getting dominated by Filipino-American Dom Escobar at the defensive end.
“I’m just gonna be straight, straight honest. We really played really bad and it’s a bit obvious, you know, you guys saw what happened in the first half. Time wasn’t on our side even though we made a big run, but we can’t keep relying on that stuff to happen,” Amos said, vowing to do better in their second-round encounter.
“We’re just gonna prepare for them. They play a different style to a lot of other teams, but we have to prepare for this next coming week and practice.”
Together with Cebuano recruit Jared Bahay, Amos was being groomed to serve as the future of the Blue Eagles two years ago.
But in a shocking twist, the 21-year-old from Queensland pulled off a surprise as he suddenly bolted out of Ateneo, saying that “I wasn’t happy there anymore,” in July of last year. What’s even more surprising was his destination of choice — La Salle — which is considered as the bitter rival of his former school.
“I expected people to be mad. I expected all these opinions, but I’m not worried too much about that,” Amos said in an interview after boldly crossing the enemy lines that drew the ire of the Ateneo community.
A year later, everything is now water under the bridge for Amos, but thousands of Ateneans who trooped to the cavernous Pasay City venue still couldn’t forget, making sure to let him know how painful his transfer of allegiance was to the entire community.
In fact, during the players’ introduction, spectators in blue made a lot of noise in heckling and jeering him that obviously affected his game and led to a sloppy performance.
Amos admitted that he’s no longer seeing eye to eye with some people in the Ateneo community.
“I mean, we don’t talk, so that tells you everything you need to know,” he said.
“I just gotta keep moving forward. If they don’t want to talk to me, then I’m okay with it.”
“I’m just trying to be mentally tough, you know, just being there for my teammates because my team needs me also. I just gotta be myself, I’m not gonna change who I am.”
La Salle team captain Mike Phillips stressed that they are rallying behind their embattled teammate.
“No player wants to kind of go through that but that’s how life happens — that’s the cards that God dealt Mason, and no harm or foul on Ateneo’s side, it’s all part of the game,” Phillips said.