JUST a month into his stay with Letran, but Rhenz Abando already showed what exactly he can bring to the table for the defending NCAA men’s basketball champion.
Rhenz Abando on Letran debut
The experience of the 22-year-old Abando was too much to bear for St. Benilde as he led a late charge by the Knights and power them to a 67-63 comeback win in the opening game of Season 97 Saturday at the La Salle Greenhills.
The 6-foot-2 wingman recruited from University of Santo Tomas had a game-high 19 points and presided over a telling run in the fourth quarter where the Knights held the Blazers to just eight points.
And Abando, according to Letran coach Bonnie Tan, is just getting started.
“We want to let Rhenz to play his full potential, but we’re not rushing him,” said Tan of Abando, who just formally joined the Muralla-based team last February.
“We’re just parang less than two months pa lang na magkakasama,” added the Letran coach. “We’re not pressuring Rhenz, but for sure, again we want to let Rhenz play his full potential.”
Abando added eight rebounds and four block shots in his debut game for the Knights.
He is one of Letran’s two prized recruits from Santo Tomas including Bren Paraiso.
Abando averaged 11.7 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks in his lone season with the España-based school, which made it as far as the 2019 UAAP men’s basketball finals, where the Tigers lost to reigning champion Ateneo.
He found himself leaning towards Letran after being caught in a controversy involving the UST team’s supposed secret training camp in Sorsogon done during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in an obvious breach of government’s health and safety protocols.
He comes from the coastal province of La Union.
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