Diego Dario lives by the old adage that hard work works.
The words may seem cliche and overused, but the graduating guard of the UP Fighting Maroons lives and breathes the mantra. Diego's hard work ultimately paid off last Sunday in a stunning display of offense in his team's 94-81 victory over the UE Red Warriors.
Dario was a man on a mission in the final frame, spearheading a 17-4 run to open the quarter to help UP establish a 16-point lead. In one juncture, he scored eight straight points, including back-to-back triples. He scored a total of 10 points in the fourth period and 13 overall, his best output of the season.
For Dario, it was all about hard work. "Long time coming, I've been working hard for games like this," Dario said about his breakout performance. "Actually, I've been getting opportunities, but I still have to keep on working because this is how this happened. I kept on working, extra hours after practice, even game days, so I'll just keep working."
"I really wasn't surprised I know it was gonna happen because you have to trust your hard work. You just have to work hard without any intention, without any goal in your mind, like you have to trust the hard work. Hard work, works. Cliche as it sounds it's true," added Dario, who only normed 3.0 points in just 8.3 minutes of action prior to Sunday's game.
He played with supreme confidence in UP's fourth win of the season, but he admitted that he doubts about whether or not his hard work would finally produce results. In fact, he even thought of hanging up his sneakers.
"There were actually times that I thought I was not gonna play basketball anymore," he opened up. "Like it always comes into my mind. Let's say after a game, after a bad game, after a bad practice. Because it's also been tough for me the past three years."
Dario entered the UAAP as a wide-eyed rookie in 2014. In his first two years in the league in Seasons 77 and 78, he normed nearly eights points per contest in roughly 17 minutes of play. Those numbers took a significant dip for the next two years. He logged in just 11.9 minutes in Seasons 79 and 80, posting just 3.8 points. But even when he was hardly seeing action on the court, he tried to persevere. When all else failed, he leaned on to what got him into the Fighting Maroons in the first place: hard work.
"[That's] part of basketball, also part of life," Dario shared about his struggles. "It's not always up there. And for me, [I] just have to keep working."
Through patience and staying ready, Dario persevered. It also helped that there are people who trust in him, especially his head coach Bo Perasol.
"Coach Bo expects a lot from us and he gives people opportunities and we just have to give them back to Coach Bo since he gives us those opportunities," Dario said about his the third-year UP coach. "So I'm really grateful, personally, I'm grateful for Coach Bo for giving us opportunities and also for other people in the team."
After producing quiet numbers the past few seasons and nearly quitting basketball, Diego Dario is right where he belongs. He is a senior and a leader, mentoring a young team trying to make it into the Final Four. He's seldom in the spotlight but in some ways, he prefers it that way. He knows his role. He'd rather do the work, stay ready, and wait patiently for his moment to arrive.
And after his best game of the season, he doesn't want to think too far ahead nor does he believe those dark days are behind him.
"I don't wanna think of the future. As much as possible I stay in the moment," he said. "What can I control after this game? I continue to work hard."