MANILA, Philippines — De La Salle University’s Ben Mbala believes his team is going out of character. And they have to rectify that as soon as they enter the second round.
“We are not the defensive-minded team we used to be,” the reigning UAAP MVP said after closing the first round of the eliminations with a loss to their archrival Ateneo de Manila on Sunday.
Unable to counter the Blue Eagles’ early torrid shooting, the Green Archers fell into a hole. They managed to claw back late in the game, but a couple of defensive lapses rendered futile what would’ve been a comeback.
“First of all, Ateneo was really hot. If I’m not mistaken, they made six or seven threes,” Mbala shared. “You know, we just have to stick our game plan and continue executing.”
The Eagles leaned on Anton Asistio shortly after the opening buzzer sounded. The sophomore guard fired four triples in succession to keep the defending champions in the backseat. At the end of the game, Ateneo tallied a total of nine triples.
“Despite the fact that we were able to come back and get the lead for the last few seconds, we’re just not able to play mature basketball by turning the ball over and fouling them,” he offered with a sigh.
“We really played poorly and then we had the last second shot. We didn’t execute well so we paid the price. Any games of Ateneo-La Salle, you can’t afford to do that,” he furthered.
For his part, Mbala, too was clamped down. Prior the showdown, the Cameroonian import was averaging 33.5 points a game. He finished with just 18 on Sunday, behind Ricci Rivero’s team-best 19.
“I had to find the way to pass it to my wide-open teammates. Unluckily, my teammates were unable to knock down the shot,” Mbala said. “But [that is] part of the game. It’s a team sport. If I can help my teammates by attracting the double or triple team then that’s easier for us to get the wide open shot.”
“[Defense is] something we need to change. We still have a lot of time to work on our game,” the big man said.
Mbala and company will have another crack on testing and fine-tuning their schemes when they take on FEU today at the Big Dome to kick off the tourney’s second round.
The Green Archers and the Tamaraws lock horns at 4 p.m., with sophomore guard Aljun Melecio returning for La Salle from dengue fever.