Upbeat Warriors see gold at streak’s end

By Jasmine W. Payo
Inquirer
Last updated 06:09am (Mla time) 10/06/2007

MANILA, Philippines -- When University of the East (UE) saw its shot at basketball history pass agonizingly by, Coach Dindo Pumaren immediately reminded his UE Red Warriors of their objective.

“Of course, it would’ve been nice if the streak continued, but what’s more important is our goal, which is to win the championship,” said Pumaren.

The Warriors’ bid to set an all-time league record of 15 straight wins fell just a bucket short when the De La Salle University Green Archers pulled off a 64-63 heartbreaker in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Finals opener last Thursday.

“During the elimination round, the players wouldn’t even mention [the word streak], because that’s not really our focus,” Pumaren said. “We took it a game at a time, and it will be the same here in the Finals. We lost Game 1, but we’ll be ready in the next game.”

The Green Archers -- who held on to Rico Maierhofer’s split free throws with 14.1 seconds left for the marginal win -- will try to wrap it up tomorrow in Game 2 of the best-of-three title series.

“After the game, I told the boys that if we can win 14 straight, we can win two straight,” said Pumaren. “The boys were still upbeat during practice (yesterday).”

Even his elder brother, De La Salle coach Franz Pumaren, knows that clashing against the aggrieved Warriors may be more dangerous.

“Knowing the UE Red Warriors and knowing Dindo, they’re going to prepare for us; they’re capable of bouncing back,” Franz said. “Personally, I don’t believe in momentum, especially in the championship. After this particular game, UE will be coming out firing in the next game. They will use this as a rallying point.”

But Pumaren knows that his Warriors didn’t play anywhere near their capability.

“The boys were tentative,” he said. “Maybe because it was everyone’s first time in the Finals.

“But even if we committed (a season-high) 31 turnovers, we only lost by one point. We played bad, but we could’ve still won. We had two chances in the end, they just didn’t go in. Either team could have won, it was just the breaks of the game.”