Fil-Am guard John Abate remained calm as ever as he stepped up and delivered two clutch free throws for the UE Red Warriors in their huge upset over the DLSU Green Archers in UAAP Season 87.
“Like any other free throw.”
That’s how John Abate described hitting the game-sealing free throws to help the UE Red Warriors take down the DLSU Green Archers in an upset, 75-71, in the UAAP Season 87 men’s basketball tournament on Sunday, September 22.
In front of hundreds of fans at the Mall of Asia Arena, Abate calmly sank both free throws en route to a 20-point outing, leading UE to a 2-2 record.
“I treated it like every other free throw. Just like how I treated like every other game. It doesn't matter who I'm playing against or where I'm at, you know,” Abate told One Sports.
“Just keep my composure, focus on what I need to do, focus on the rim, follow through, high release, and just finish,” he added.
[ALSO READ: By striking first and striking hard, UE gets upset of UAAP Season 87 so far]
Prior to the match, the Fil-Am recruit struggled shooting from the field for the Red Warriors, scoring just 12 points on 5-of-21 shooting.
That’s why his breakout performance against La Salle came as a huge sigh of relife for Abate, who finished on an impressive 85.7% shooting.
“I definitely had my struggles coming to play in the Philippines. There's times where I was shooting maybe like 10 percent, 20 percent, so like coming into this game you know, it was definitely like I had to get that monkey off my back,” said Abate.
“In the visual aspect, the confidence was always there. I knew my shots were eventually gonna fall. I just you know, happy to be in this game,” he added.
Going down 0-2 to start the season, the Red Warriors have turned things around after bagging two-straight wins. But none could have been a greater confidence-boosting win than their victory over the defending champions.
“For me personally, beating De La Salle, you know with their great status, great tradition, great program, I wouldn't say it means more than any other win, but it definitely has like some type of significant meaning and allows us to believe in ourselves more,” Abate explained.
[ALSO READ: UAAP standings: UE grabs hard fought victories during their foundation week]
UE will look to make it three in a row when it faces the slumping NU Bulldogs next on Saturday, September 28, at the MOA Arena.
(With reports from Xander Cipriano/One Sports Digital)