SUMMARY
This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.
MANILA, Philippines – What was rather an uneventful and lopsided contest between the DLSU Green Archers and UST Growling Tigers on Sunday, October 23, turned entertaining when La Salle coach Aldin Ayo inserted a line-up of Ben Mbala, Mark Dyke, Abu Tratter, Jason Perkins, and Julian Sargent in the fourth period.
The 5-man unit consisted of one import in the Cameroonian Mbala, 3 Filipino-Americans in Perkins, Sargent, and Tratter, and a Filipino in Dyke. The move by Ayo seemed like a response to one of the main criticisms of the Green Archers in Season 79, where the team has been accused of fielding multiple imports in games.
Under UAAP rules, a team is allowed to have only one foreign student-athlete, which La Salle has followed but some fans on social media have been oblivious to.
“I feel like they’re just uninformed,” Mbala said about the criticism after recording 21 points and 15 rebounds. “Before you come out there and start tweeting, you have to make sure you have the right information.
— Go Archers (@GoArchers) October 9, 2016
Mbala also pointed out that his teammates have learned to tune out the noise.
“We all know I’m the only import of La Salle. The rest of them are Filipinos. We don’t even bother to talk to those type of people. We just let them do whatever they want because we know it’s not true. It doesn’t really matter.”
Last for today. Goodnight
— Go Archers (@GoArchers) October 9, 2016
Stay salty my friends pic.twitter.com/uZrBR5oM5S
The 5-man combo played under 3 minutes until Perkins fouled out of the contest and was replaced by rookie Ricci Rivero. Mbala, who admitted the unit doesn’t have a nickname yet, described playing with the 4 guys as “fun.”
“I feel like it was fun, because most of the time we’re used to playing with only one black guy in the team but looking at all my teammates, 5 of us were black. It was fun, even the way we played.
“It was just easier. It was very easy for us.”
Mbala, who leads the UAAP MVP race, admitted that he was also taken back when Ayo decided to pull out that move for the first time this season.
“I was actually surprised when coach called the 5 of us at the same time. I was like, ‘Is this serious, is that for real?’
“Still we had to go out there and still we had to run the plays cause coach was serious about that.”
La Salle improved to an undefeated 11-0 after the win, still in possession of first place in the standings. The Green Archers’ 43-point winning margin over the Growling Tigers was the largest of a UAAP game since 2003.
“It’s about learning how to enjoy your hard work. When you think about how hard you’ve been working, then it becomes easier during the game,” said Mbala. – Rappler.com
Add a comment
How does this make you feel?
There are no comments yet. Add your comment to start the conversation.