PERHAPS San Beda's assistant coach Andre Santos put it best after watching his team dismantle University of the Philippines 93-72 to advance to the finals of the 19th Filoil Ecooil Presason Cup on Sunday.
“I think no team is deadlier than a team that plays for something,” he said.
San Beda, of course, was dealing with grief after the passing of former Red Lion and NCAA champion JV Gallego due to a vehicular accident a day before.
People deal with grief differently, and for the Red Lions, they did it by playing their hearts outs in the semifinals.
“I think 80% of our [pregame] talk was about JV,” Santos recalled.
“Coach Yuri mostly sharing about his experiences with JV, and looking back on good memories. Because since JV passed, this was the first time we saw each other.”
"We found out about his passing after our practices. So it was really the first time we got to talk about it as a team.”
Gallego was considered as one of the most instrumental pieces of San Beda’s Season 99 title, where not only did he willingly take a backseat behind the likes of Jacob Cortez and Peter Alfaro to secure their championship odds, he also took on the responsibility of being the veteran leader of the squad, especially to Cortez.
And his immeasurable impact was on full display on Sunday, as most of the coaching staff were visibly moved to tears during the moment of silence before the game, while players like RC Calimag wrote dedications on their sneakers.
When tip-off began, San Beda rained down 16 triples on an efficient shooting all across the board while also holding State U to their least-efficient clip all tournament long.
Calimag took the lion’s share, dropping 27 points on six triples, while Aldous Torculas had 14 points and Dom Sarigumba delivered yet another two-way masterclass of 17 points while holding Rey Remogat scoreless.
And for that inspired showing, it was clear to Santos that their performance had JV’s influence all over it.
“Coach Yuri’s story about JV is that JV in the basketball court is one of the best shot makers you've ever seen. And today we won the game because simple—we made shots. 16 out of 36 from threes. I think that's some JV Gallego-inspired shooting," Santos said.
“He embodied sacrifice and he's such a great inspiration to us. In terms of being able to stay ready when someone's name is called in our team. So that's what happened today. They played for something greater than themselves, greater than our team.”
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph
NOTICE ON UNAUTHORIZED AND UNLAWFUL USE, PUBLICATION, AND/OR DISSEMINATION OF SPIN.PH CONTENT: Please be notified that any unauthorized and unlawful use, publication, and/or dissemination of Spin.ph’s content and/or materials is a direct violation of its legal and exclusive rights to the same, and shall be subject to appropriate legal action/s.
