MENDOZA...

not only to regroup fast but focus on future tasks as well heading into tomorrow’s winner-take-all Game 3.

It isn’t easy to forget something that had caused so much pain.

La Salle erasing Ateneo’s 21-point deficit was humbling enough for the Eagles

But for La Salle to limit Ateneo to just 8 points in the third quarter while unloading 26 points of its own was a pride-shattering slam too hard to swallow.

Just two quarters back, Ateneo collected 32 crushing points, spiked by 5 triples, to set up that 21-point bulge.

And look at this: Did La Salle not drop a 40-10 blitzkrieg to raze that 49-28 Ateneo lead and retake the driver’s seat at 68-59?

Shockingly enough, Ateneo never regained its poise after that.

From a seemingly well-conditioned machine in the early goings, Ateneo tragically turned into a third-class spare part as in the ones being peddled in Mabalacat, Pampanga—if not a reconditioned, auctioned Subic truck that had seen better days.

While Ateneo was in perfect rhythm in the first and one-half quarters to totally outplay La Salle, it next deteriorated as if by design—inexplicably biting into the bait of La Salle’s run-and-gun style.

And when Ben Mbala, just 8 points in Game 1, started to assert himself as he had promised, there was no stopping the 6-foot-7 Cameroonian monster. He finished with 20 points and 16 rebounds.

If you still say Ateneo will win tomorrow, good luck.