Red Warriors played for themselves and not UE in UST loss – Pumaren

MANILA, Philippines – UE Red Warriors head coach Derrick Pumaren was clearly unhappy following his team’s defeat to the UST Growling Tigers on Saturday, September 10, which was their second loss in as many games to start UAAP Season 79.

Up 15 at one point in the first half, UE allowed the Renzo Subido-led Growling Tigers to outscore them by 13 in the third period, 30-17, before being unable to complete a comeback in the final minutes of the ballgame.

“We should have [taken] care of business when we were up. We simply ran away from what we were doing,” the head coach said.

“They thought that the game was over, but I kept reminding them that it’s far from over. They think they can do this, they can run away, they can make mistakes. And that’s what happened.”

UE shot 46% from the field and forced 21 UST turnovers in the first half to take a 47-39 lead into intermission. The Red Warriors finished the game shooting only 36% from the floor while the Growling Tigers made 48% of their attempts.

“We just showed flash of our brilliance tonight, and as I’ve said, we were there, but we were not going for the kill,” said Pumaren.

“I would say, [they are] still thinking of themselves instead of playing for UE.”

UST’s top 3 scorers were guards, led by Subido’s career-high 26 points. Jon Sheriff, not known for his point production, scored 15 points, while second-year man Marvin Lee added 14.

“The guards killed us – Subido, Lee, and even Sheriff. In fact when I arrived this afternoon, that’s what I told them – that I’m worried about the guards,” Pumaren said.

UE actually rallied from an 86-77 deficit with under 3 minutes remaining and cut the deficit to 86-85 with 1:49 to go. But eventually, missed shots from long range by Edison Batiller and Paul Varilla sealed their team’s defeat.

That type of decision making did not go well with their head coach.

“At the end, we did not play smart. We took bad shot selections. I don’t know why we had to shoot 3-point shots when we were only down by two points or one point, and that’s not playing smart at all.”

UE will aim for its first win against the defending champion FEU Tamaraws next Sunday, September 18. – Rappler.com