NOT wanting to get embarrassed by the San Sebastian Golden Stags on their own home floor last Thursday, Prince Eze made sure to not let the Perpetual Help Altas and the Perpetualites in attendance down.
“At halftime, I got mad actually,” admitted first-year Perpetual head coach Frankie Lim as the Altas fell behind by as much as 21 points against their visitors. “I told them, guys, it’s not about the Xs and Os. It’s about your desire to win.”
Prince Eze and the Altas responded with a huge third quarter-outing to give themselves a chance to stun the Golden Stags.
With 3.3 ticks left, the two proud squads were knotted at 76-all. Burning his last timeout, Lim crafted a play for his main man Prince Eze, who had anchored his defense all game long.
After the timeout, Eze received a well-timed lob from AJ Coronel, perfectly angling his hands in the air to lay-in the game-winner with .5 seconds to spare. Disaster averted.
For his heroics, Eze, who finished the game with 22 points, 18 rebounds, and six blocks, was crowned as the Chooks-to-Go/NCAA Press Corps Player of the Week.
“A win is a win. And we have to live with that,” said last season’s Defensive Player of the Year.
Eze bested CJ Perez of Lyceum, Robert Bolick of San Beda, Bong Quinto of Letran, and Alvin Capobres of San Sebastian for the weekly honor handed out by print and online writers covering the Grand Old League.