HTC gets first win at expense of UP in Filoil Premier Cup

MANILA, Philippines —Holy Trinity College saved its best game for last with a 94-85 win over University of the Philippines Saturday in the Filoil Flying V Hanes Premier Cup at the Arena in San Juan.

The Wildcats drew solid contributions from their starting five with guard Edson Batiller leading the way with 21 points, seven rebounds and five assists while Meylan Landicho, the other guard, had 18 points, eight rebounds and six assists.

“Ngayon lang lumabas laro namin (Today was the first time we showed our game),” said HTC head coach Paul Torrijos, whose team ended its maiden Filoil preseason stint with a win after five straight losses.

“Pinaghandaan talaga namin ang UP kasi sila yung team na tingin namin makakatsamba kami (We really prepared hard for UP because they’re the team we feel that we can beat),” said Landicho.

Playing with the right level of confidence, the Wildcats came out firing to lead by 14, 28-14, at the end of the first quarter – a lead they would never relinquish.

Center Delmar Mahaling added seven points and a game-high 16 rebounds for HTC, which had 16 second-chance points and got 19 points off UP turnovers.

The PCCL Mindanao champion Wildcats came in with a lot of buzz with actor Gerald Anderson expected to suit up. Torrijos said Anderson was indeed supposed to play Saturday but had to beg off due to other commitments.

Henry Asilum paced the Fighting Maroons with 20 points while JR Gallarza notched a double-double with 12 points and 15 boards. UP dropped to 1-3 after losing to Centro Escolar University last Wednesday.

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