For three quarters of the match, season-hosts San Sebastian College-Recoletos Golden Stags kept pace with defending champions and heavy favorites San Beda Red Lions, Saturday afternoon. But with the game knotted at 62-all midway through the final frame, the Red Lions found a source of energy to run past San Sebastian.
“Nung pagpasok ng fourth, sabi ko sa sarili ko, amin na itong laro na ito eh,” floor general Renzo Navarro said.
“Ang problema, meron pa silang hugot, si [Clint] Doliguez nahugot pa nila!”
Doliguez, a transferee from Ateneo, sparked a game-breaking 12-2 rally that gave San Beda a game-high 74-64 lead with 1:02 left.
San Sebastian, a team that had lost both Ryan Costelo (injury) and Jerick Fabian (withdrawal) during the off-season, could not find their own spark that led to the 67-76 loss.
“Wala naman kaming makuha. Mas malalim talaga yung bench nila, marami silang puwedeng hugutin,” Navarro furthered.
Still, the 5-foot-8 point guard gave the San Sebastian community hope, proving that their wait for his return has been worth it. The 20-year-old scored 12 points, dished out seven assists, and steal the ball thrice in 25 minutes of action. And it was because of the seal of confidence given to him by coach Egay Macaraya a week prior to the season.
“Nung Filoil at Fr. Martin’s yun yung first time ko maging under coach Egay. Iba kasi coach ko nung nag-reresidency ako. So ako, parang nagpapakiramdaman pa lang kami nun, hindi ko pa alam kung ano yung gusto ni coach,” Navarro disclosed.
“Eventually, naging okay at naging komportable na ako sa kanya.”
And after showing that they can keep up with the best the league has to offer, both Navarro and Macaraya are in unison in saying that they know what they are going to work on.
“Siguro dahil yung character ng mga bata nandoon na. Yung last na lang tsaka yung pinaka-bottom line na malilit kami, yung rebound, yun na lang eh,” Macaraya said, as the Stags were out-rebounded 32-54.
“With energy and effort, maganda ang pupuntahan namin.”
“Hindi siya dagdag kumpiyansa, lesson talaga siya para sa amin,” added Navarro.
“Yung mga lessons na nakuha namin this game, i-improve na lang namin sa training para hindi lang lesson makukuha namin, makukuha na namin yung panalo.”
