Mapua banked heavily on its new faces to fend off Letran, 69-61, and claim back-to-back wins in the PlayTime Cares 18th Filoil EcoOil Preseason Cup pe on Monday at the PlayTime Filoil Centre in San Juan.
Returning guard Cyril Gonzales drilled 19 points on an efficient 7-of-11 shooting, to go with two rebounds and one assist, Ivan Lazarte chipped in nine points and three boards, and Joe Gulapa dropped eight points and six rebounds in the win.
To Clint Escamis, building chemistry with the holdovers has been their priority as of late, stating: “Sobrang saya kasi ‘yung goal naman namin i-build ‘yung team chemistry.”
“Hindi pa naman tayo sobrang 100-percent pero nakikita natin na nadedevelop na [yung chemistry]. Nagpapasahan na, nagkakaamuyan na, so magandang use ito para sa amin,” said the NCAA Season 100 Finals MVP who also chimed in 14 points, four rebounds, and three assists in the win to move up to 2-1 in the NCAA Group of the premier preseason league.
Jun Roque paced the Knights (2-1) with 15 points, while Luis Tapenio got 12 points and nine boards to make up for Titing Manalili’s paltry two point outing in their first loss in the nevent.
Ian Torres also came through in the clutch as the College of St. Benilde pulled off a tight 79-76 comeback win against Jose Rizal University.
The second-year guard scored the last seven points for the Blazers as he ended up with 15 points for their fourth straight win.
On the UAAP side, FEU continued its momentum by handing UST its first loss, 72-63.
Jorick Bautista came out firing with 12 of his 16 points in the first half as he shot 3-of-11 from distance, as Mo Konateh finished the job for the Tamaraws with his monster 16-point, 21-rebound statline to go up to 2-0.
