Blue Eagles dedicate win to banned player
Ateneo seems ready to grab any available motivation to win games even if this motivation appears, well, unusual.
Ateneo Coach Bo Perasol said they were dedicating their win against University of Santo Tomas last Wednesday to John Apacible, the team bench warmer who became a sensation when he was caught on video haranguing a motorist, threatening to punch a bystander and then, when confronted by police, speeding off to escape arrest.
Apacible, who appeared to be drunk at the time, later apologized for his conduct and asked forgiveness from his team, the Ateneo community, his family and to all those who he said were affected by his action.
The Ateneo management responded by suspending him for five games which means he will miss the rest of the second round. He, however, will be available in the event Ateneo makes it to the semifinals, which appears imminent after its win against then UAAP co-leader UST.
Perasol said he dedicated the win to Apacible because he wanted to lift the guy’s spirit even though the sophomore has not been a very important cog in the Blue Eagle’s quest for the UAAP championship. Apacible, a 6-foot-3 forward, averaged seven minutes, 3 points and 1.5 rebounds per game. But the player holds one distinction in the league: He is the only one who is 100 percent in field goal attempts, going 11 for 11.
“Dinedicate namin yung game sa kanya, hindi dahil sa kalokohan niya, pero dahil sa ikakaganda ng loob niya,” Perasol said.
“Alam naman ni John na mali yung ginawa niya pero as his teammates, nandun kami for him. We want him to be better,” he added.
Perasol also said that distractions like this one can’t be avoided and told his players not to be distracted and concentrate on the coming games.
“Talagang part siya ng team, eh,” said Perasol. “Hindi naman nawawala sa isip nila yung what happened with John but we all know that, napagusapan na naman lahat yun. Much has been said about the incident, we know and he knows the repercussions of that.”