By NIKOLE JAVIER
Schonny Winston would rather win a championship than be named as the Most Valuable Player.
Winston leads the MVP race after the first round of the tournament which unfortunately saw La Salle slide to a three-game losing streak after its 57-53 setback against Far Eastern University last Nov. 2.
With the development, the Green Archers now slipped to a 3-5 win-loss record which narrowed puts playoff bid in peril — causing Winston to feel bad about his statistical advantage for the individual plum.
“I’d rather be called champion than MVP, so that’s like I feel bad . I mean, I’m really honored to be the top candidate, but I really also want to contest for the big crown as well,” said Winston.
Without its starting unit to fully lean on, the Archers played shorthanded in their recent loss as Winston nursed a calf injury after their overtime defeat against Adamson Soaring Falcons last Oct. 22.
“After the Adamson game, I strained my calf, so we’re tryna take it day by day to recover slowly strengthening. We haven’t decided yet ,” he added.
“It was definitely a tough loss because we missed a lot of players. We needed to get to to get us really off the hump. At first, we were supposed to play UST and that game was postponed. But now, it’s the FEU game we were looking forward to avenging and we fell short in this game.”
Despite another loss adding to their woes, the graduating guard believes that their reserves “showed they can compete” as long as they focus on overcoming bad starts and closing out games “because that’s where you win games.”
In its next duel, La Salle will face the equally revenge-seeking Ateneo, which succumbed to National University last Nov. 2, in the next round of their rivalry affair on Saturday, Nov. 5.
“It’s still an Ateneo-La Salle game. It’s still gonna bring the crowd and the fans, it’s gonna bring the best of Ateneo, and it’s gonna bring the best out of our players. So, I already know that’s gonna be a dogfight,” he continued.
“That game. That’s just how it is in the past history. I’m actually looking forward to this game. That’s one of the games I look forward to every year, the La Salle-Ateneo rivalry.”