Barely recovered from dengue fever, Allen Liwag returned to action in De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde’s 82-64 win against San Sebastian College-Recoletos on Wednesday.
The reigning Most Valuable Player tallied 19 points and seven rebounds to lead the Blazers to a bounce-back victory after their loss to Arellano University last October 17.
This marked Liwag’s return after missing three games due to illness.
Apparently, he only had one training session after weeks of absence.
“To be honest, I didn’t expect him to play,” Benilde head coach Charles Tiu said.
“I was expecting him to be out for another game or so. I was praying that he’d come back for the Perpetual game on Saturday, but he gave me a call Monday night and said he wanted to try to play.”
According to Liwag, he really wanted to return to action, especially since he was already feeling better.
“Sobrang gigil na ako makabalik. No’ng naramdaman ko na tingin ko kaya ko naman na makabalik, kahit ilang pa ako sa paggalaw ko, sobrang gigil ko na maglaro, 'di ko na matiis eh,” Liwag said.
It was, of course, a welcome development for Tiu, especially with the season nearing its midpoint and Benilde locked in a tight race in Group B, sitting second in the standings with a 4–2 record.
“That was a big, big boost for us. We saw the way he played today, an anchor for us on both ends of the floor, and that’s why he’s the MVP. We needed this type of performance from him, and he came up big,” Tiu said.
Liwag said he also wanted to lead by example upon his return.
“Sobrang laking bagay para sa akin ‘yung return kasi gusto ko i-lead ‘yung team, mag-lead by example—hindi lang sa game kundi sa practice na andun ako palagi, go hard ako kahit anong mangyari,” the Benilde big man said.
Still, both Liwag and Tiu hope he can fully recover just in time for the game against the University of Perpetual Help System DALTA on Saturday.
“Kung ano ‘yung kondisyon ko ngayon, mas hihigitan ko para maging ready ako sa Perpetual at sa susunod na games,” Liwag said.
—GMA Integrated News
