Magsanoc deflects praise for Kiefer's winning play

MANILA, Philippines -- Ateneo asst. coach Ronnie Magsanoc was the architect of the winning play in their 63-61 victory over University of Santo Tomas Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

With 23.1 seconds left, Ateneo ran a series of picks for Chris Newsome before finally giving the ball to Kiefer Ravena with around ten seconds left and the latter hit the go-ahead high-looping jumper with the clock down to its last. 3.7 seconds for the final score.

"You always give the ball to your best player and you hope he will make the right decision to make the shot or make the correct basketball play. You live and die with [in the hands of] your best player," said Magsanoc.

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"It worked because of Kiefer, it was a good, big shot from him," he added.

Magsanoc was quick to deflect the praise from ADMU coach Bo Perasol, who immediately declared in the post-game interview that it was his play that they used in the endgame.

"Katulad nga ng sinabi ni Coach Bo, basketball is a team game. Ganun na din sa coaching ng collegiate kung ano yung naka-assign sa amin yun ang gagawin namin for the team, it's hard to make a decision like that. It was a split decition from coach," Magsanoc said.

"Naka-assign sa amin ni coach Raffy yung offense ng team and defense is taken care of coach Ricky and Sandy, it so happened na nagkaroon ng sitation na makakashoot si Kevin at babalik ang bola sa amin," he added.

Being a former champion head coach with San Beda two years ago, Magsanoc shares that what he brings to the team is stability and was again quick to point out their responsibilities as a team.

"Siguro yung stability lang sa mindset. Kasi ang paniniwala ko talaga you always have to be composed and always know what to do. Kung ano hingiin ni coach Bo from us yun ang itutulong namin," Magsanoc said.

"But you don't see that with what the team has done yet. We always look at the end of the season because we have a long term goal at the end for the Blue Eagles," he ended.