Gilbert Malabanan has nothing but respect for Olsen Racela as the two former teammates shared the same court on Wednesday, this time as coaches of their respective teams.
Malabanan, who calls the shots for Lyceum of the Philippines University, and Racela, the rookie coach for University of Perpetual Help System DALTA, went at it in their first NCAA Season 100 duel and the Pirates tactician relished this opportunity of reuniting with his former San Miguel teammate 18 years ago.
"Honestly, mataas ‘yung respeto ko diyan kay Kuya Olsen," Malabanan, a product of Perpetual, said.
But it was Malabanan who got the better of Racela in their collision.
This after Lyceum turned to Josh Moralejo in the dying seconds of a tightly contested battle as the guard buried a game-winning three-pointer from the top of the key and over the defense of Shawn Orgo to star in their 64-62 escape.
The win pushed Malabanan's Lyceum's card to an even 4-4 while Racela's ALTAs slipped to a similar slate with one game left in both teams' first round assignments.
while his wards emerged victorious, Malabanan was all praises to the campaign turnaround brought by Racela to Perpetual, which suffered plenty of player departures in the offseason.
"He’s a great point guard, we know naman that talaga and ‘yung madadala niya sa Perpetual. And nakikita n'yo naman na ang ganda nu’ng sistema niya sa Perpetual, madaling nakaka-adapt ‘yung mga players," Malabanan added.
"Malayo rin ‘yung mararating ng Perpetual lalo na diyan ako galing."
—JKC, GMA Integrated News
