MANILA, Philippines -- San Beda coach Jamike Jarin apologized following his team's heartbreaking 90-94 defeat to Letran in Game One of their best-of-three duel for the 91st NCAA basketball title at the MOA Arena in Pasay City last Friday.
Jarin and the Lions though vowed to come back big in Game Two.
"I coached bad in Game One, it's my fault, that's why we lost," said Jarin moments after the title series-opening game defeat. "I didn't coach well in all aspects and I failed to prepare them against Letran."
"The good thing about it is that we still have a Game Two to get back and you can expect us to give it all to do that," he added.
One of the biggest factors to the Lions' Game One setback was their turnover woes.
The reigning five-peat champion turned the ball a whopping 29 times that resulted to 25 points by Letran off it.
"We had too many turnovers. We had our chances but we weren't able to execute. We need to take care of the ball and I need to coach better," said Jarin, who is now even at two games apiece in his head-to-head with fellow rookie coach Aldin Ayo of Letran.
Jarin was quick to point at Letran's relentless full-court defense that gave them problems, particularly the pro-bound duo of Baser Amer and Arthur dela Cruz.
Amer missed seven of the 10 shots he took and finished with just eight points while dela Cruz, who was second to eventual league MVP Allwell Oraeme of Mapua, was held to just six shots and made just two of it to wind up with just seven points.
"You have to give credit to Letran for the way they defended the two," said Jarin referring to Amer and dela Cruz.
The Game One defeat put San Beda in danger of losing in the finals for the first time in the last six finals and second overall in the last decade.
Jarin, however, isn't about to push the panic button.
"There are a lot of positives, one, we still have a game," said Jarin. "The other things are we were down early but we were able to get back. We were playing bad but the game was still close and we still had a chance to win in the end."
"We just need to gather our senses back, play again as a team and compete for 40 minutes for us get a win and extend it to a Game Three," he added.
Game Two is set at 4 p.m. on Tuesday also at the MOA Arena.
A decider, if necessary, is on Thursday at the same venue.