By: Kim Yoshi Espiritu
Photo Courtesy: Ram Christian Campos /The LANCE
The Colegio de San Juan de Letran Knights fall short of a final quarter reversal against their UAAP matchup, National University Bulldogs, 77-79, in the 18th FilOil Preseason Cup Quarterfinals held last Friday, July 11, at the Playtime Filoil Centre.
The Knights faced a huge trial in this cross-collegiate showdown as they tried to prove that mother league crews can compete and go toe-to-toe against UAAP teams, not to mention, the staunch advantage of Foreign-Student Athletes (FSA).
In light of bigger competition and the rush of being the top-pacing NCAA team in this tournament, the 6-foot-1 star point guard, Jonathan Manalili led Letran in all categories scoring 18 markers, eight dimes with seven boards.
While ducking a potential upset, NU head coach Jeff Napa had a comfortable ride to a double-digit lead for majority of the first half thanks to his tactical backcourt duo of Steve Nash Enriquez and Reinhard Jumamoy setting plays that eventually found Jake Figueroa's hot-shooting hand.
Letran’s aggressive play took to toil as key pivotman Mark Denver Omega injured his right leg early into the match which quickly escalated the opponents’ lead to as large as 14 points with the team eventually ending the half trailing, 29-39.
Even with their backs to the wall, Manalili kept pulling the strings at the point position while scoring three straight drives and creating space for his squad.
Just when things started to come together for the Knights’ offense, the Cebu native went down in a hard break collision with Bulldogs’ Jolo Manansala but still completed a turnaround assist to a running Deo Cuajao.
Coach Allen Ricardo and the Knights found their rhythm in the third frame, trimming down the lead to a two possession ball game, 60-64.
But with the Bulldogs gritty defense catching up in the ensuing fourth, the Knights started chucking away their run and trailed again by 14, 61-75, with five minutes remaining in the ball game.
Knowing the clock is draining down, with the scores favoring their opponents, Letran had only one more trick up in their sleeves — raising their defensive tempos and pressuring NU from the half court.
This ignited the flames of the Intramuros-based squad, allowing them to obtain a 16-4 final scoring outburst behind Luis Tapenio’s hustle points and Cuajao’s late game triple, however, they were still inches short as Figueroa picks Manalili’s pockets in his game-winning attempt.
Coach Napa and the Bulldogs felt relieved after winning the close game, and remarked on his gunners for stepping up despite a sluggish output from their recovering team who just came off from injury treatments.
Leading their way was Figueroa who had an outstanding comeback game with 21 points, six rebounds, four steals, one assist, and a block.
The Bulldogs will set foot in the final four stage against the University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigers in what will be a foreshadowing of the coming UAAP season 88 men’s basketball tournament.
Letran, on the other hand, is set to bolster its camp led by their core group of coaching staff with the addition of legendary alumni Kojak Melegrito for the annual NCAA basketball tournament.
QUARTERSCORES: 20-28, 39-49, 60-64, 77-79
CSJL (77) - Manalili 18, Cuajao 18, Santos 18, Tapenio 11, Estrada 8, Rosilio 5, Buensalida 4, Omega 3, Alejandro 0, Gammad 0, Roque 0, Silorio 0, Yusi 0.
NU (79) - Figueroa 21, Manansala 16, John 9, Dela Cruz 8, Francisco 7, Enriquez 6, Santiago 3, Padrones 2, Solomon 2, Jumamoy 0, Parks 0.