Mark Gojo Cruz walked off the court knowing exactly what went wrong with his individual performance in Game 1 of the NCAA Season 101 Final Four showdown between Perpetual and Letran on Tuesday.
The sophomore guard found himself tangled in heated moments with Knights Titing Manalili and Jun Roque in the first half, distractions that ultimately knocked him out of rhythm as the ALTAs absorbed a 77-73 loss.
Gojo Cruz admitted he let his emotions get the better of him in the high-stakes Game 1 clash, going just 4-of-13 from the field. He was held to just a single point in the second half to finish with 10 markers, three rebounds, and two assists.
"Ako personally, may kaunting gigil. Kasi 'yung sa girian namin ni Roque, napagalitan ako ni coach. Pero dagdag motivation 'yun para sa akin at makabawi," Gojo Cruz said.
(Me personally, there was gigil. The scuffle with Roque, I was scolded by coach. But that's added motivation for me to bounce back.)
Gojo Cruz locked eyes with Manalili after a rebound battle at the 7:51 mark of the first quarter but the tense moment was quickly diffused by the game officials.
But tempers flared again when the homegrown Perpetual product clashed in an arm-locking scuffle with Roque, himself a former Perpetual standout, with 7:21 left in the second quarter as both players earned technical fouls.
"Part of the game lang talaga kasi playoffs atmosphere. Siyempre kasama talaga pero 'yun nga nagpadala ako doon sa nangyari. Naging selfish ako doon [at] nakaapekto 'yun sa playing time ko. Naka tatlong fouls pa ako," Gojo Cruz added.
(It's really just part of the game because of the playoffs atmosphere. Of course, that's part of it but I got carried away with it. I was selfish there and that affected my playing time. And I got three fouls.)
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For Manalili, though, it remained strictly business and nothing personal.
Manalili and Gojo Cruz are all too familiar with each other after going at it in the junior ranks. In Season 99, Manalili led the Letran Squires to their second straight championship by defeating Gojo Cruz' Perpetual ALTAs in the finals.
That’s why the rivalry between the two runs deep.
"Ayon syempre nasa game tayo so wala munang kaibigan kaibigan, trabaho lang talaga," Manalili said.
"Palagi ko siyang tina-trashtalk, marami akong sinasabi sa kanya kasi alam naman natin na iba siya so ayun dini-distract ko siya and ayon, maaga rin siyang nakakuha ng tatlong fouls."
(Of course, we're in a game so we put friendships aside for a bit and it's all business... I always trashtalk, I tell him a lot of things because we know he's something different, so I try to distract him, and he got three fouls early.)
Gojo Cruz vowed to take this as a lesson as the ALTAs now fight for their life come Game 2 on Friday.
—JMB, GMA Integrated News