Yukien Andrada delivered his best performance of the season for San Beda University as the Red Lions defeated De La Salle–College of Saint Benilde, 80-76, on Friday in the NCAA Season 101 men’s basketball tournament at the Filoil Centre in San Juan.
Yukien fired 23 points built on four triples, along with five rebounds and two assists, to lead the Red Lions in the battle of the top teams in Group B.
Before this game, Yukien was averaging just 7.14 points and 3.43 rebounds per outing.
According to him, he dedicated his standout performance to his brother, former De La Salle Green Archer Yutien Andrada, who recently underwent heart surgery.
“My motivation? Maybe my brother. He’s at the hospital right now. He just had open-heart surgery. That really motivated me to play well, so I owe this game to him,” Yukien said.
The younger Andrada shared that it was his brother’s second operation in as many years.
“Last year, he had an abdominal aortic aneurysm. This time, it was a thoracic aorta aneurysm,” he said.
“Actually, last week he was still in the hospital. Then earlier, my brother messaged me that he got opened up again because may fluid yata sa heart niya. But right now, he’s in the CCU (coronary care unit). I think he’s recovering now.”
Aside from dedicating the game to his brother, Yukien said he also wanted to repay the trust of his coaches and teammates.
“Also my coaches and my teammates — I think they’re trusting me and really building my confidence again after that LPU loss. What’s on my mind early in the game was just to keep shooting. I’ll make my shots, and that’s what happened. Having that mentality really helped me a lot in this game.”
Yukien added that the victory was significant as the Red Lions aim to stay atop Group B.
“For sure, that’s our goal. We want to be in the number one or number two spot, but as much as possible, we want that number one spot.”
—GMA Integrated News
