After a rocky start to their NCAA Season 101 campaign, the Letran Knights are finally beginning to justify their preseason tag as a deep and talented squad.
The Knights endured a rough opening stretch, dropping games to youthful JRU, archrival San Beda, and last season’s runner-up Benilde to fall to a disheartening 0-3 start.
But Letran has made up for those early struggles in its last two outings after taking down Emilio Aguinaldo College and previously unbeaten Perpetual to breathe new life into its season.
Titing Manalili and Deo Cuajao connived in their 84-80 win against the Generals while Jimboy Estrada found his touch to fuel a 63-56 victory over the ALTAs as they improved to 2-3 in Group B.
And head coach Allen Ricardo believes these consecutive victories are showing who the Knights truly are.
"Number one 'yung health issues so medyo nakakabalik na 'yung mga bata, 100 percent na sila. And then for the past three games, nakikita namin 'yung mga downside ng plays namin, what went good, what went wrong," Ricardo said .
"We’re trying to improve that and nakikita ko na ‘yun from EAC and going to this game, nagkakaro’n na ng maturity, nakikita na natin ‘yung identity nila, nagkakaro’n na sila ng pangil maglaro."
(Number one is the health issues, so the players are getting back, they're at 100-percent... And then for the past three games, we were able to se downside to our plays, what went good, what went wrong.... We're trying to improve that and I can see the results from EAC and going to the this game, you can see the maturity, the identity, they're starting to play with their fangs bared.)
One positive for Letran is the return of Estrada to his old lethal form.
Estrada wasn't in his element the past games due to flu and stomach ache, but he finally rediscovered his rhythm against the ALTAs by dropping 17 points in the first half to finish with 23 markers laced with eight rebounds, three assists, and three steals.
And no one was more satisfied to see Estrada flaunt his usual game than Ricardo.
"Matagal ko na talagang hinahanap sa kanya ‘yan. Alam ko naman ‘yung kaya niyang ibigay so gano’ng katiwala ako kay Jimboy," Ricardo said.
"Ngayon, nakikita ko naman sa body language nila na talagang ‘coach, babawi kami kung ano man ‘yung lapses namin sa mga previous games.’"
(I've been asking that of him for a long time. I know what he can give so I have that trust in Jimboy... Now, I can see in their body language, they want to make up for the lapses they made in the previous games.)
But Estrada stressed they still have plenty more to show as the season goes on.
"Sinabi ko naman sa sarili ko na makabawi ako kasi ilang games na hindi maramdaman ni coach," he said.
"Meron pang ilalabas ‘yung team namin. Kulang pa rin kami ng piyesa, si Jun Roque hindi pa masyadong okay."
(I told myself that I need to bounce back because it's been a few games that I haven't made an impact for coach... We still have more we can show. We don't have all of our pieces yet. Jun Roque isn't okay yet.)
—JMB, GMA Integrated News
