The Letran Squires are on the verge of winning their first crown in more than two decades.
This is the first time in 15 years that neither the San Beda Red Cubs nor the Mapua Cardinals are battling for the championship. But with the two current finalists going at it at a breakneck pace, we're not complaining.
On paper, and in the initial stages of Game 1 of the NCAA Season 98 juniors basketball finals between the Letran Squires and the CSB-La Salle Green Hills Greenies, it looked like the boys from Mandaluyong would be able to overwhelm their opponents with size and shooting. But it was the relentlessness of Letran that prevailed as the Squires took the opener, 85-81.
Looking at the numbers, here’s how the young guns of Intramuros negated the strengths of La Salle.
The bigs of Letran outplayed their highly touted counterparts
The Greenies’ twin towers of Seven Gagate (6-foot-8) and Manuel Pablo (6-foot-7) had good games. Gagate finished with 12 points on 75% shooting to go along with 13 rebounds. Pablo played even better, recording 22 points with a whopping 90% clip, while securing 19 boards.
But the Letran bigs didn’t back down. Syrex Silorio had his best game of the season as he tallied 27 points, 7 rebounds. His frontcourt mate George Diamante meanwhile was excellent across the board, notching 12 markers, 17 caroms, 5 assists, and 4 blocks.
Andy Gemao helped out his bigs
The high-flying 16-year-old went out and did his usual thing on offense. Gemao soared towards the rim several times and ended up with 21 buckets. But he also stepped up in other areas as he posted an impressive 14 rebounds while adding 3 steals to his name. His board work was especially huge considering the towering presence of Gagate and Pablo for LSGH.
Five Greenies scored in double figures but it didn’t matter
Aside from the Greenies big men, Rod Alian, James Ison, and Christian Mesias also scored in double figures. Alian dropped 12, while Ison and Mesias had 10 apiece. But that scoring balance went for naught as only the latter shot the ball decently at 50%. Alain and Ison were pretty terrible, hitting an anemic 27.8% and 36.4 from the field, respectively.
Letran will try to capture their first NCAA juniors crown since the 2001-02 season on Thursday against a determined LSGH squad aching to force a decider.