De La Salle University’s Mason Amos shrugged off a hostile reception as he faced his former team in Ateneo de Manila University in a game that saw the Green Archers absorb an 81-74 loss in the first round of the UAAP Season 88 men’s basketball tournament before a Mall of Asia crowd of over 17,000.
It was the 6-foot-7 forward’s third time playing in an Ateneo and La Salle rivalry game, but this time he was donning the green-and-white following his shock move last year to Taft to the dismay of the Katipunan side.
Amos, though, delivered a six-point outing in a 2-of-7 shooting clip in over 25 minutes of play that went with two rebounds, two assists, and a steal.
He offered no excuses for coming up short in the highly-anticipated encounter.
“I’m just gonna be straight and honest, we played really bad. It’s a bit obvious. You 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 on relying on that stuff to happen. We take full responsibility for this. Not the coaches. We didn’t play how we usually play, and there’s no excuses for this game,” Amos said during the post-game interview.
Despite the loss on top of a bad game, Amos insisted that there’s no bad blood on his end as he is choosing to keep moving forward with his new team which mounted a huge rally in the fourth quarter as a last-ditch effort.
“I mean, there’s really nothing to comment about it. You know, that’s how they feel. I mean, that’s how they are gonna feel for the rest of the season. I mean, I’m just gonna keep moving forward,” Amos said in the post-game interview.
“No [the boos didn’t rattle me]. I’m good. I’m good. I mean, I had a bad game. But we all have bad games. And I’m just gonna keep learning from here,” he added.
Amos added that he approached the game in the best way possible as his mental toughness was put to the test.
“I mean, I was just trying to be mentally tough and just being there for my teammates. My team needs me also. Just being myself and being true to myself,” he said.
La Salle dropped to a 2-2 slate while Ateneo stayed unscathed in four games.
—JMB, GMA Integrated News
