Letran Knights. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
For majority of the season, Letran was at the top of the standings.
But that seemed to be a distant past with the situation that the Knights are in.
Letran finds itself fighting for a Final Four spot against four other teams after failing to secure a berth and a twice-to-beat advantage on Tuesday following a loss to its arch rival and defending champion San Beda.
And it only gets tougher for the Knights, who will wrap up their campaign in the elimination round against fellow Final Four contender in University of Perpetual Help.
“What’s important for us is we need to stay together especially with our last game a big one against a strong team in Perpetual Help,” said Letran guard Rey Nambatac, whose game-high 16 points weren’t enough to complete his team’s rally in a 77-73 defeat.
Letran started like a house on fire, winning its first seven games. But the Knights seemed to have lost their steam as the season went weary, having lost three of their last four stints.
“Since the start of the season we really wanted to show that it’s still Letran’s time and that we’re not going anywhere,” Nambatac said in Filipino. “This 1-3 record is going to be our motivation. We know that we have to work hard for everything because it won’t be given to us.”
“There’s a reason why we’re going through adversity and what’s good about this is we’re going to carry this to our game against Perpetual Help and we’re going to be eager to bounce back,” Nambatac said.
The Knights beat the Altas, 79-71, in the first round but that game won’t be anything like Friday’s duel where the stakes are much higher.
“During our huddle after the game, we talked about our next game and we all agreed that it’s going to be do-or-die for us,” Nambatac said. “We also don’t want to waste what we have built since the first round. We have to show on Friday that we deserve to be in the Final Four.”