It wasn’t the start Jeff Napa wanted for the Letran Knights.
A red-hot Edgar Charcos, a squandered lead, and a collapsed offense became the narrative of the Knights’ opening game loss to Perpetual Help in the NCAA Season 94 men’s basketball tournament.
But instead of sulk, Napa and the Knights are using the setback as a learning experience.
“Time to move on, we’ll just focus on our next game so we can’t allow the same mistakes from happening again,” said Napa in Filipino Friday at Filoil Flying V Centre.
READ: NCAA: Perpetual rallies to close out Letran in thriller
Charcos finished with 27 points in the Altas’ win, dropping 22 points in the first half, but the Knights still went into the break trailing by just one, 45-44.
After a seesaw affair for much of the game, Letran was able to take the lead early in the fourth, 73-65.
That, however, was the Knights’ final stand as they allowed the Altas to mount a 12-2 run and take a 77-73 lead off of Kim Aruin’s step back jumper with 1:35 left in the game.
“It’s hard to make excuses for this game, there were many lapses like Charcos getting too comfortable,” said Napa. “We got a lead, we relaxed, and we lacked the finishing ability.”
The Knights had a couple of chances in the last minute but Prince Eze denied both of those with blocks on Bong Quinto and JP Calvo.
“I didn’t question my players’ decisions, I have a lot of trust in them,” said Napa.