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PERPETUAL Help does not want to be a perpetual loser.

Coach Boris Aldeguer is determined to turn things around.

His University of Perpetual Help Altas escaped with a win over the Colegio de San Juan de Letran Knights, 59-57 last Wednesday, May 19 at the Arena in San Juan City. The Altas earned their first victory in the 2010 FilOil Flying V Tanduay First Five Invitational Cup.

“Dito sa Perpetual, you have to look at where it came from. Remember, I inherited a last placer team. I didn’t inherit a Final Four team. I didn’t inherit a champion team. So, you have to look at where we’re coming from. It has to take a little while before we can get up. OK na sana kung Final Four kami last year then this win wouldn’t be that big because it would be expected. Here at Perpetual, you have to look at where we came from. From the pits talaga eh. It’s going to be a struggle. But, I assure you that in three years, four years, we’ll give them a good fight already,” said Aldeguer.

After finishing with a 3-15 record in the NCAA last season, Aldeguer had a major makeover done on his team, recruiting 12 new players. The only holdovers from last year’s team are Raffy Ynion, Jason Salvado and Chris Elopre.

Those three players were usually starters on last season’s team. However, none of them have started a single game in this tournament.

But, Chris Elopre showed today that he does have a lot to offer for Perpetual Help.

Hanging on to a 54-49 lead with a little over three minutes remaining in the game, the Altas were tested under pressure as Letran went on a 6-2 run to cut the deficit to one point, 56-55. Kevin Alas, who finished with a game-high 19 points, scored on a left-handed layup on the fastbreak to give the Knights the lead, 57-56 with 23.6 seconds to go.

Coach Boris Aldeguer called a timeout and set up a play for Paul Nuilan who was fouled. Nuilan converted on only one free-throw to tie the count at 57-all.

It was Letran head coach, Louie Alas’ turn to set up a play for his team with 19.1 seconds remaining. The Knights went to the post, giving the ball to big man, Jam Cortes. But, he was blocked by Nuilan.

Chris Elopre grabbed the loose ball and quickly went all the way for a lay-up and drew the final foul of Kevin Alas who tried to draw a charge. Elopre calmly knocked down both charities to give the Altas the lead, 59-57 with 5.1 to play.

Former Altas guard, Franz Dysam, now the Knights starting point guard, missed on a game-tying lay-up.

UPHSD is now at 1-3 while Letran dropped to 1-4 in Group A.

The scores:

Perpetual Help 59 – Danganan 16, Vidal 10, Nuilan 9, Gomez 6, Arboleda 5, Allen 4, Elopre 4, Ynion 3, Sumera 2.

Letran 57 – K. Alas 19, Belencion 9, Cortes 8, Espiritu 6, Almazan 5, Dysam 4, J. Alas 3, Rodil 2, Belorio 1, Ang 0, Pantin 0, Taplah 0.

Quarter scores: 11-12, 20-22, 42-37, 59-57.

(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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