Sophomore Head Coach of the Colegio de San Juan de Letrán, Allen Ricardo, dropped some words of wisdom during the postgame interview for his first-ever Final Four game victory last December 2, 2025, at the SMART Araneta Coliseum against the University of Perpetual Help System DALTA in the ongoing NCAA Season 101.
Write Our Own Story, Our Own History
Head Coach Allen Ricardo was able to bring 2 championships to the junior team of Letrán called the “Letrán Squires”.
But being in the seniors division was something new for him.
Last NCAA Season 100, the Knights missed the Final Four during the rookie season of Coach Ricardo. And now, just his 2nd year, the team didn’t just reach their vision of making the playoffs, but also are now one win away from the Finals.
The 39-year-old mentor then emphasized that no matter how grateful he is personally for achieving such milestones, what matters the most is that the team is writing their own story and their own history in the century-old collegiate league.
“Yung feeling ano, how do you call it, like, sa ngayon sa totoo lang trabaho lang eh. Kumbaga I’m just thankful for this win. I just try to focus it dito sa team, I know its a big arena pero yung pressure kase its a privilege. So sabi ko lang sa kanila, itong mga ganitong moment, hindi na natin mababalik ‘to so we have to write our own story, our own history.”
The majority of the Knights are also playing their first-ever Final Four game in their career. Excluding Kevin Santos, who was part of the Season 97 (2022) championship.
The Game 1 victory didn’t come easy as after leading in the entire 1st half, the Altas surged right from the start of the 3rd quarter to keep the game close up until the end.
He then added that Game 1 is now in the history books and that all they can do is just watch the film and think about the what-ifs and what could have been. So might as well give their all.
“Itong araw na to, hindi na to mababalik. So sooner or later panonoorin niyo nalang to, what went good, what went wrong, and at the same time siyempre, at the end of the day, it’s all about the win, diba? So yun lang I’m thankful.”
Jimboy Estrada – “Kailangan lang namin maging composed.”
Earning the Best Player of the Game award along with his teammate Jonathan “Titing” Manalili, Letrán’s sharp shooter Jimboy Estrada shared that what they need to prepare to close this series on Friday is to maintain their composure and find a solution for their “2nd half meltdown” against the Altas.
“Kailangan lang namin maging composed kase ayun nga, nakuha namin yung panalo. Kailangan namin trabahuhin pa yung kung bakit pa sila nakahabol, kung bakit sila dumikit ayun.”
Game 2 of the Semifinals match between the Letrán Knights against the Perpetual Altas will happen this Friday, December 5, at the Mall of Asia Arena at 2:30 PM.
