For the first time in three years, Colegio de San Juan de Letran’s armor has been damaged.
The Knights suffered a heartbreaking upset against Arellano University, 72-69 on Sunday. It was their first loss since Game Two of the NCAA Season 95 Finals.
For Letran’s big man Louie Sangalang, it was a mistake that they somehow deserved.
“Para sakin mali talaga namin yon,” said Sangalang. “Kita naman natin na yung win parang hawak na talaga namin eh, tapos nagpabaya yung sa depensa namin.
“At kung kailang huli na, kinapos na kami. Wala na.”
The Knights were leading by as much as 13 points, 55-42, near the end point of the third frame.
But things started to collapse as they were only able to score five points for the next 11-minutes of the game. The Chiefs took advantage of this, going on a blistering endgame run to stun the defending champions.
Sangalang though was stable on this one as he finished with a game-high 19-points on 8-of-9 shooting from the field together with 16 boards. But sadly, his monster performance wasn’t enough.
His fellow seniors like Fran Yu, Brent Paraiso, and Tommy Olivario missed all 11 of their attempts in the final frame, which led to their downfall.
The 6-foot-4 senior believed that this loss should serve as an early wake-up call for the Knights as they are set to face more challenges as the season progresses.
“Wake up call din siguro. Pero sa practice pa lang namin napag-uusapan na namin na lahat na sa NCAA ngayon, underdog kami,” said the 24-year-old Bataeño.
“Everybody’s ball game na ngayon. Hindi pwedeng pa-easy easy. Kailangan talaga namin magsimula ulit sa umpisa. Para makamit yung goal namin, kailangang paghirapan.”
