By Jerome Lagunzad
In the din of Ateneo’s celebration of its vengeful title run in the UAAP basketball tournament last Sunday night, La Salle coach Aldin Ayo gathered the Green Archers on the other side of the Smart-Araneta Coliseum floor.
With most of his players in tears, Ayo, 40, did his best to lift their spirits, perhaps urging them to keep their heads high after they fought a good fight against a more determined Blue Eagles side in an epic finals encounter.
“I told them we pray very hard to win, but we have to pray harder every time we lose,” he said moments after La Salle dropped an 88-86 decision to Ateneo in their winner-take-all match witnessed by more than 22,000 fans in attendance.
“We just have to be grateful for the opportunity, the experience and make sure that we learn from this,” added Ayo, 40, sounding humble enough after seeing his personal run come to an end that started with Letran’s successful bid in the NCAA in 2015.
Although he’s being linked to a possible transfer to University of Santo Tomas which is looking for a new coach, Ayo maintained that the Green Archers will remain intact and a genuine force to be reckoned with next year.
“Based on the ground rules of the UAAP, Ben (Mbala) still has one more year in the UAAP. He’ll be here next year,” he said, referring to the reigning back-to-back league MVP winner.
Asked whether he’ll be back for a third straight tour of duty with La Salle, Ayo said: “Nothing’s definite. Day-to-day basis kami. I just signed a contract sa La Salle last December that will expire this December.”
However, he declined to expound on widespread rumors about him possibly taking over the vacant Growling Tigers’ job.
“Ang iniisip ko lang ngayon ‘yung laro muna at ‘yung team na ito. Ayaw ko ng mga ganyan,” he said.
“Actually, I have lots of friends at UST. ‘Yung pari na nagdala sa akin dito sa Manila, he’s in UST. ‘Yung adviser ko sa thesis ko, he’s a Dominican, he’s also in UST. There are lots of priests na nandun sa UST na friends ko pati alumni. Pero regarding sa issue na ‘yun, I don’t want to comment on that.”
What Ayo is confident on tackling is the Green Archers showing up more determined than ever next year after “we were not able to handle very well our championship last season,” even making himself accountable for such failure.
“Of course, we’re going to compete. We’re going to play and squeeze everything sa abot ng makakaya namin. Gusto namin manalo. But there were problems na were not able to resolve na pagdating dito sa championship lumabas,” he added.
Even the 6-foot-7 Mbala admitted he and the rest of the Green Archers should only get better and stronger from this stunning downfall.
“It has to be a learning experience for me. You can’t just learn by winning, you can also learn by losing. This is a situation that you have to learn by losing and I take it as a man,” he said.
