BONG Quinto is starting to grasp how good he can really be once he fully commits to the system of his coach Jeff Napa.
For the rest of the NCAA, that is one bad news.
The graduating forward came up with his second triple-double in a span of four days to as Letran ended the first round with a bang, dealing Emilio Aguinaldo College a 76-56 beatdown on Friday at the Filoil Flying V Arena.
Quinto finished with 11 points, 10 rebounds, and 11 assists, a fitting follow up to his triple-double performance againt Mapua last Tuesday. For the 6-foot-3 banger, it all starts with their coach.
“Pag nage-enjoy ang coach namin na magturo samin, nage-enjoy din kami sa practices anmin. Sobrang daming drama bago matapos ang first round, pero yung first round tapos na,” said Quinto.
“Dito na magkakaalaman, ito na yung stretch na malalaman namin kung saan kami sa Final Four. Yung kumpyansa na binibigay ni coach Jeff samin, simula sa akin hanggang sa bench, grabe talaga. Pasalamat kami na meron kaming coach na kagaya ni coach Jeff,” he added.
In the past three games, Quinto has averaged a triple-double, putting up 11.6 points, 10 rebounds, 10.3 assists and it has resulted into great performances by Letran.
That includes a narrow loss to Lyceum where he just missed out on a triple-double by a single assist.
His head coach in Napa isn’t really surprised.
“Bong Quinto is truly our leader. He is setting an example kaya nagiging maganda takbo namin,” said Napa.
“If Bong plays well, everybody plays well. Ang maganda ay inaaccept na niya yung pagiging leader ng team,” he added.
Not since the time of Scottie Thompson and Jio Jalalon three years ago did a player put together more than one triple-double in a season. It’s a good company to have considering that two players are already turning heads in the PBA.
But Quinto insists that he’s just returning the trust that Napa gives to him to his teammates.
“Nakita ko yung strength ng team namin. Sabi ko nga sa mga teammates ko, basta nageenjoy kayo sa practice, madadala natin sa court. Nangyayari naman yung pinagagawa naman sa mga practice namin,” said Quinto.
“Tiwala talaga. May tiwala sakin si coach Jeff, ako naman binabalik ko yung tiwala sa kakampi ko. Nagiging intact na yung team namin,” he added.
As Quinto continues to rack up the numbers, talks of a possible MVP award are now beginning to surface for the former Juniors MVP.
But Quinto’s eyes remain on the biggest prize – and it’s winning one championship again before he finally turns pro.
“Nung 2015 wala namang naging awardee samin pero nakuha namin yung championship. Yung goal namin ngayon, di yung awards. Extra nalang yan kung deserving ako or kung sino naman sa amin,” Quinto explained.
“Ang main goal ay yung championship, makuha mo man yung award, ang matatandaan talaga diyan ay yung championship. Magiging memorable talaga ang last year ko.”
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