After the College of Saint Benilde secured its seventh win in NCAA Season 101 Men’s Basketball on November 14 against Colegio de San Juan de Letrán at the Filoil EcoOil Centre in San Juan City, Head Coach Charles Tiu had high praise for his player, Raffy Celis.
Playing Excellent D against Titing Manalili
CSB’s guard Raffy Celis was tasked to guard the super scoring guard of Letrán, Jonathan “Titing” Manalili in the 2nd Half.
The result? Manalili shot 7/13 (53.8%) and ended the game 0/2 in the 3-point area.
In the post-game interview, Rebanse asked Head Coach Charles Tiu about the tenacious defense played by the former guard from Ateneo de Manila University.
“Well I think that’s been his role for us. He’s been my best defender, I’d usually put him on the best scorers of other teams. Not just Jonathan Manalili, he also had to guard Estrada.” said by the 4th Year Coach for the Blazers
“Raffy has been big for us. He’s my swiss army knife, does a bit of everything. Rebond, defend, I think he led the team with 6 assists today, so if he can just keep his emotions in check, it will be much better for us.” Tiu added.
Letrán’s 2nd leading scorer, Jimboy Estrada, also struggled offensively. He ended the game 4 out of 15 from the field with making only 2-of-5 from deep and 2-of-10 in the 2-pointers.
Aiming for the Top 2 Seed in Group B
Now that the “heavy hitters” are out of the last remaining schedule for CSB, Coach Charles is still vigilant with the unpredictability of both Jose Rizal University and Emilio Aguinaldo College, as they can pull upset wins.
“I mean our target is been to get Top 2 naman. So, we still control everything right now, I guess we just need to take care of business and win our last 2 games,” said the 36-year-old mentor.
“I think we’ve seen naman sa season that JRU is a good team. I think in the PreSeason, everybody is saying ‘Group of Death’, ‘Group of Death’ tas kaming tatlo lang ng Letrán and Beda but you’ve seen EAC and JRU beating every team also right? I mean, you can’t take them for granted.”
Coach Charles then reiterated that both JRU and EAC are good teams and the Blazers shouldn’t take them for granted as they round up their elimination games in hopes of further solidifying their Top 2 finish in Group B.
“They’re a legit team, credit to their staff they’ve developed the guys well so we have to be ready to go to war. Let’s not forget if we lose to them, we’re also tied to them with 5 losses so we just have to find a way to win, and I honestly think if we win, we can clinch a Top 2 spot and that’s been one of my goals. We just need to find a way to win on Tuesday.”
