Edgar Charcos and the University of Perpetual Help System DALTA Altas opened their post-Prince Eze era by taking down the young Mapua University Cardinals, 80-78, Tuesday at the Filoil Flying Centre in San Juan City.
“Well, it’s a show of character para sa team ko. I felt na Mapua is really stronger than our team. In fact sa preseason tinambakan kami ng thirty-eight points [Fr. Martin’s Cup, May 3 — 91-53] and kakaba-kaba din ako going to the game. Isip ko na nasa isip pa nila yung larong yun,” said Perpetual head coach Frankie Lim, as Perpetual trailed by as much as 11 points.
Charcos, who is in his second year with the Altas, scored 11 of his 16 points in the final frame. The former UE Red Warrior also tallied eight rebounds, five assists, and two steals.
And he took charge when the Altas needed him the most.
With the game knotted at 69-all, Charcos was able to draw a foul on Denniel Aguirre for two freebies. It sparked a personal 8-0 run for Charcos to give Perpetual a 77-69 edge with 4:14 left.
JP Nieles stopped the bleeding with a triple but Charcos answered back with a deuce of his own.
Needing one last push, Jasper Salenga and Laurenz Victoria gave Mapua a new lease on life with the latter knocking down a triple to cut the lead down to just one with 8.2 ticks left.
Charcos though split his free throws with 3.3 seconds remaining as Mapua could not put up a shot to close out the game.
“Big game also from [Ben] Adamos, Jielo [Razon], Tonton [Peralta], and also Charcos, the leader of this team,” added Lim.
Peralta led Perpetual with 20 points while Razon added 10 points, four assists, two rebounds, and two steals. Ben Adamos, who was making his Perpetual debut, had eight points, 10 rebounds, and two blocks.
Warren Bonifacio and rookie Cyril Gonzales had 15 and 14 points respectively with the former grabbing nine boards as well as they tried to will Randy Alcantara to a winning debut.
Perpetual looks to make it two in a row when it faces the CSB Blazers (1-0) on Tuesday, July 16 at 4:00 pm. Mapua, on the other hand, faces the San Sebastian Stags on the same day at 2:00 pm.
The Scores:
UPHSD 80 – Peralta 20, Charcos 16, Razon 10, Egan 9, Aurin 9, Adamos 8, Giussani 2, Lanoy 2, Cuevas 2, Barasi 2, Lucero 0, Martel 0
MU 78 – Bonifacio 15, Gonzales 14, Garcia 9, Nieles 8, Victoria 6, Salenga 6, Serrano 5, Hernandez 4, Lugo 4, Bunag 3, Aguirre 2, Jabel 2, Gamboa 0, Dela Cruz 0
Quarterscores: 21-22, 39-45, 64-63, 80-78
