Allen Liwag showed no jitters in his first-ever finals stint, notching a double-double during De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde's Game 1 clash against Mapua University in the NCAA Season 100 finale on Sunday.
But the Blazers' collective performance was not as impressive as they succumbed to the red-hot Cardinals, 84-73, as Mapua moved to within a win from claiming the title.
As usual, Liwag was a dominant force on the paint, finishing with 18 points and 14 rebounds to go with three blocks and two steals. The Blazers, however, turned the ball over 23 times, which Mapua converted to a whopping 34 points while only having 11 turnovers of its own.
And Liwag is hoping the Game 1 can be enough lesson for the team in their bid to equalize the series come Saturday.
"Kumbaga pampagising na rin sa amin ‘to na hindi namin makukuha nang madali ito, hindi sa amin ibibigay nang madali ito," Liwag told GMA News Online shortly after the match at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
"Wala e, sobrang daming turnovers. ‘Yun ‘yung nagpatalo sa amin. Tinalo lang namin ‘yung sarili namin kasi ‘yun nga, sabi ni coach na hindi namin iningatan ‘yung bola. ‘Yun ‘yung storya ng laro."
[I think this can just be our wake up call for us that this isn't going to come easy. They will not give this to us. We just had too many turnovers. That's what lost us the game. We beat ourselves because, as coach said, we didn't take care of the ball. That's the story of the game.]
Benilde head coach Charles Tiu tipped his hat to Liwag, the former EAC big man who played through a tough and intimidating inside defense from the Cardinals led by the likes of John Jabonete, Andrei Igliane, and Yam Concepcion.
"He played well except for the four turnovers, I can’t complain with the way he played. He did miss a lot of free throws, missed a layup, but other than that, he was great," Tiu said of Liwag, who is expected to be crowned as the MVP.
But Liwag stressed his individual performance won't matter if they can't get the job done as one unit.
"Siguro panoorin lang namin ‘yung game and tignan namin kung ano ‘yung magandang adjustment para sa Game 2. Kung gusto naming mag-champion, kailangan namin mag-trabaho," the 6-foot-6 Liwag added.
[I think we will watch the game and we'll check to see what adjustments we can make for Game 2. If we want to be champions, we need to work for it.]
—JMB, GMA Integrated News
