WITH the first round about to end, the La Salle Greenhills Greenies are in the middle of a chase for the best seats in the Final Four semifinals of the 92nd National Collegiate Athletic Association junior basketball wars.
New coach Marvin Bienvenida and his assistant coach Allen Ricardo are aware of this with the Letran Squires, Lyceum Junior Pirates and the University of Perpetual Junior Altas fighting to keep up with them.
“We’re playing catch-up with our win. There are three other teams seeking to move up, we are aware of that,” Bienvenida said.
Bienvenida, who replaced John Flores, said this after the Greenies outplayed the EAC-ICA Brigadiers, 87-74, last Monday at the Arena in San Juan.
Their efforts allowed them to improve their win-loss record to 5-3 and stay in fourth place.
The Squires are in pursuit and so are the Junior Pirates with their 4-4 record. The Junior Altas trail closely with their 4-5 card.
On the other hand, the Arellano University Braves are way ahead in the solo lead with their eighth consecutive win.
Defending champion San Beda follows at 7-1, and the Mapua Red Robins follow closely at 6-2.
It was never this tight last season, with the Junior Pirates as the only other team that’s seeking to be in contention.
In their game against the Brigadiers, Troy Mallinlin bannered the Greenies efforts with 22 points and seven rebounds.
He got support from Haribon Espinosa and Vincent David with 14 and 12 points, respectively.
It was close for the Greenies in the first half, and Bienvida said their sloppy execution of defensive plays which proved to be the culprit when the first half ended at 37-34.
“The boys had an attitude of being complacent in the first half. But it was the defense in the second half that did it,” said LSGH coach Marvin Bienvenida.
After Sean Oriondo put the Brigadiers nearer with his drive, 36-37, the start of the third, and eventually tied the match, 40-all, the Greenies finally came to life.
The 5’9” Mallinlin struck hard with five points during a 7-0 blast, and LSGH moved ahead, 47-40, with 5:11 left.
Penetrations from Joel Cagulangan and Vincent David eventually gave LSGH a 53-42 spread with 2:54 to go.
When it was over, Mallinlin emerged as the league’s top scoring cager with his average of 21.5 points.
He is ahead of Arellano’s Guilmer de la Torre, who is now at no. 2 with 18.6 points per game.
Mallinlin emerged as one the players to watch in the Greenies roster this season since the time of the Rivero brothers, Prince and Ricci, and, most notably Kobe Paras.
His shift from being a mere power forward to a combo power forward and small forward is helping the team a lot this season.
“Dati kuwatro ako (power forward), ngayon, 4-3 ako (power forward and small forward). Mahirap ang adjustment. Pero hinasa na ako dito sa position na ito last summer,” said Malinlin.
Another player to watch is Unique Naboa, a guard who averages 14.8 points on a good day.