Christian Manaytay (No. 4) provided UST with crucial offense and leadership in a bounce back win. —MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net
Christian Manaytay has been with University of Santo Tomas since it was in the doldrums of the UAAP men’s basketball tournament.
“Back then, I was losing my will to play because we were always losing,” Manaytay, one of the talents retained by coach Pido Jarencio in his comeback as UST coach, said.
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And through Jarencio’s recalibration and recruitment, Manaytay’s will to play at a higher level has been rekindled, especially with the success that the Tigers has been experiencing this season 87.
It’s something that Manaytay and the other veterans of the team have not experienced before.
“It’s really overwhelming. I am happy that coming from the previous years that we were always losing and that our winning culture was disappearing, [we are now here],” Manaytay said. “Thank God coach Pido and the new recruits arrived, which is a big boost for our team.
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“Having them, I already knew that we were gonna go places this season … I think that we have a chance now.”
The senior forward is now in his final playing year and that is his motivation to having consistent outings and being a steady figure for the Tigers’ trek to the top.
Dogfight
“I wanna make it to the Final Four. That’s really it, Final Four and hopefully the championship before I exit from the UAAP. I want to experience that,” Manaytay told the Inquirer in a separate interview.
After a promising 2-0 (win-loss) start, Santo Tomas suffered a first defeat at the hands of Adamson, 69-56. It was a bitter reminder for the Tigers of the past and something they don’t want happening again.
“[W]e won a dogfight against [the Bulldogs] and it … tested our character,” Manaytay said after the Tigers feasted on National University to improve to a 3-1 record.
“[We] really have that mentality coming to this season that we wanna win, so we wanna compete with these guys (top teams) … we’re gonna keep coming at them and we don’t want them to think that we’re easy this season,” he said. INQ
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