Ateneo de Manila University has come home after making the Philippines proud in the 2018 William Jones Cup.
Two days after the end of the tournament and three days after the Blue Eagles match-up against Chinese Taipei Blue, however, the host country still has not forgotten about what Matt Nieto did to them.
Last Saturday, the kids from Katipunan were trailing by two with 3.1 ticks to go in their matchup against the home team before head coach Tab Baldwin had the perfect play with Thirdy Ravena inbounding and finding Nieto for a good look from beyond.
“Matty Ice” then rose and launched a triple and the defense was unable to do anything as the ball found the bottom of the net, winning the game for Ateneo – the first collegiate team to be wearing the flag in the tournament.
And so, Nieto and his game-winner were the subject of a report on Videoland TV, one of the leading broadcasting channels in Taiwan.
There, he recounted the game-winning play that Coach Tab masterfully designed and that the young UAAP champions perfectly executed.
This, just a day after the same channel had already done a feature on Matt and twin Mike.
Yes, even after the Jones Cup, the people of Taiwan were getting to know the young talent the Filipinos could be hopeful about.
Of course, Nieto recalled the joy of taking and making the shot that added to his already-growing clutch credentials. As he said in the video report, “All the Filipino fans were happy for me and the Philippine team. Even in the hotel, other teams like Japan was happy for us.”
