NU Bulldogs vs St. Benilde Blazers. Photo from Filoil Flying V Sports Facebook account.
National University overcame the absence of Alfred Aroga to beat College of St. Benile, 59-54, in the Filoil Flying V Preseason Premier Cup Wednesday night at Filoil Flying V Center in San Juan.
The Bulldogs, playing in their first official preseason game since the beginning of their UAAP buildup last March, showed they have the depth and talent to get it done even without one of their best players in Aroga.
Newcomer Reggie Morido scored 11 points while Matthew Salem added 10 points with two 3-pointers and seven rebounds for NU.
“This is our first official game in the preseason since we started this March. And since this is a young team, I expected the players to have first game jitters,” said NU head coach Eric Altamirano.
“But we held our opponents to less than 60 points and that’s our target, our goal. Of course, we also couldn’t buy a basket but that’s part of the process and we’re going through that now. It’s still early in the season and we’re learning,” Altamirano added.
Both teams struggled on the offensive end with neither scoring 20 points in all quarters.
Clement Leutcheu paced the Blazers with 13 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks while Christian Fajarito collected 12 points and six rebounds.
Matt Aquino made his presence felt on the defensive end with seven rebounds and four blocks for NU. He had three points after making a 3-pointer in the first half.
“We played against a team who has an import and we showed that even though we didn’t have Alfred, the load wasn’t that too heavy for us because we were able to work as a team.” Aquino told INQUIRER.net.