MANILA – “I think we deserve to win because of the challenges we have weathered.”
Those were the words of Hapee player Troy Rosario, who considered the various struggles his basketball team have gone through in this season of the PBA D-League.
Rosario believed that it was now the time for the team to reap all its hard works.
Even with injuries and tight schedules, the Fresh Fighters were able to advance in the league.
In Game 1, Rosario, together with Baser Amer and Scottie Thompson, were able to pull through despite missing team practices as they participated in the 28th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Singapore.
“We’re not short in practice. It’s just we’re not working out together as a team,” Rosario said, mentioning that the three of them trained morning and evening while in the national team.
Coach Ronnie Magsanoc has been impressed with Rosario’s dedication and determination, knowing how his player endured a sprained ankle from Game 1’s first quarter.
“Troy delivered. He came out and despite him having an ankle sprain, he still finished the game for us,” Magsanoc said.
Hapee now has a 1-0 lead in the finals after defeating CafeFrance last Thursday.
“Sobrang thankful kami kasi kahit ang daming challenges na nangyari sa team, naitatawid pa rin namin yung games. Ngayon, nakuha namin yung panalo, isa na lang, back-to-back na,” Rosario said.
(We’re really thankful because even if there were a lot of challenges that the team faced, we were able to pull through with the games. Now, we got the win, [we] only need one more, [we’re] already back-to-back [champions].)
Hapee is just a win away for their second championship in the PBA D-League.
“The race is to get to two wins. We’re just one game ahead of them, but there’s still a lot of work to be done. We need to rest and take a look at what happened,” Magsanoc earlier said.