Pesky defense from Marcelino twins throws Salado off his game

Kent Salado. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/ INQUIRER.net

Kent Salado admitted that Lyceum caught Arellano off guard when the two teams played on Tuesday.

“We were surprised,” the speedy playmaker said in Filipino after the Chiefs fell to the Pirates, 99-65. “Lyceum isn’t that big, but they are really hustling hard and that led to us committing a lot of turnovers.”

With Arellano’s defense focused heavily on CJ Perez, Salado shared that he didn’t expect the Marcelino twins, Jaycee and Jayvee, to make life hard for him in the 30 minutes he played on the court.

“We stopped Perez in the first quarter, but what killed us are the Marcelinos. They weren’t part of our scouting report,” he said. “Wherever I went, they were there. I didn’t even know who was the one guarding me. They’re really good defenders.”

With the Marcelino brothers taking turns shadowing him, Salado was limited to his lowest output of the season of 11 markers, seven rebounds, and four assists, an evident dip from his averages of 21.3 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 5.0 assists in the Chiefs’ first three games.

The Cagayan de Oro native, though, challenged his teammates to pick up the slack as the Chiefs hope to end their roller coaster ride in the first four games of the season.

“I need my teammates to step up. I pass the ball to them but they have to finish. (Lervin) Flores, I think, has been inconsistent. I can’t do it on my own,” he said.

Arellano seeks to snap out of its funk on Friday against St. Benilde.