Stop Clint Escamis, stop Mapua University.
That’s what College of Saint Benilde is going to do this Saturday in Game 2 of its best-of-three title clash against the Cardinals in Season 100 National Collegiate Athletic Association basketball finals at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Escamis, the reigning Most Valuable Player (MVP), ran wild in Game 1 with 30 points, leaving Blazers head coach Charles Tiu scratching his head.
Tony Ynot, who scored seven points for the Blazers in their 73-84 loss in the opener, admits they have to limit Escamis’s production in order to get a good chance of equalizing.
“We need to learn his moves because he’s really good. Maybe when it comes to training, we’ll think about how to defend and stop him,” Ynot said.
“I think our defense was destroyed. Then we had a lot of turnovers.”
Against the Cardinals, Saint Benilde committed 23 turnovers.
While MVP frontrunner Allen Liwag had a solid outing with a double-double of 18 points and 14 rebounds, the rest of the squad had trouble lighting up the scoreboard.
Saint Benilde made 21-of-37 shots and only made five out of 21 triples.
Ynot also vows to do better to help Saint Benilde force a do-or-die Game 3, which will be on 14 December at the Big Dome.
From there, anything can happen.
“I’ll just learn in training what I’ll change from Game 1,” Ynot said.