By LEE BENJAMIN
FOR most of the 39 minutes combined that they were on the MOA Arena floor on Wednesday, the University of the Philippines' Reyland Torres and Harold Alarcon were in the face of De La Salle's Kevin Quiambao.
Torres and Alarcon were the designated defenders for the MVP in waiting of UAAP Season 86, and did the job in Game One, holding him down to 11 points on 40 percent shooting on top of six rebounds and three assists.
READ UP Maroons whip La Salle by 30 points in Game One mismatch
"Team effort yung defense namin kay Kevin. Alam nating lahat na MVP yun so yung focus nasa kanya," said Alarcon. "Yung goal namin sa kanya, pahirapan siya, make him uncomfortable 'pag kami nasa harap niya."
For reference, Quiambao averaged 16.7 points, 10.9 rebounds, 6.0 assists, and 1.9 steals en route to, by and far, first place in the MVP race that saw him total 97.0 Statistical Points, 12 better than his closest pursuer University of the East's Noy Remogat.
Of course, Torres and Alarcon had a lot of help from their years of going at it with Quiambao during practices when they were teammates at National University-Nazareth School.
"Sa practices nung high school pa kami, big man ako, 4 man ako, so si Kevin yung kabantayan ko. Dahil dun, may script na rin ako paano siya bantayan; kung ano weaknesses niya, ano strengths niya," said Torres.
As he recalled it, Torres was tasked to match up with Quiambao - and sometimes, even Carl Tamayo - during training sessions of NUNS, which was then coached by now-Fighting Maroons mentor Goldwin Monteverde.
That early, Quiambao was already a handful, even though he was yet to round out his game as a threat from all over the court.
"Si Kevin, magaling na talaga dati pa, pero ngayon, ang laki pa ng improvement niya. Kaya ako, ginawa ko lang yung best kong bantayan siya," said Torres. "Alam naman nating MVP yun e, so kung anuman yung effort ko, kailangang mas doble, triple pa."
Still, those times taught Torres and Alarcon a thing or two about Quiambao - tips and tricks they put to good use when they met again in finals stage.
"Nung Bullpups pa kami, first group sila e, ta's ako, second group, so matagal-tagal ko rin siya napanood paano maglaro," said Alarcon. "Ngayon, masasabi ko na kung paano yung galaw niya. Kumbaga, kilalang-kilala ko siya na ipapasa ni Kevin 'to, ititira ni Kevin 'to."
Entering the championship round, Monteverde's familiarity with Quiambao was seen to be an advantage for UP, and the same is true as well for six of the presumptive MVP's former teammates-turned-rivals in Torres, Alarcon, Gerry Abadiano, Terrence Fortea, Janjan Felicilda, and Cyril Gonzales.
That proved to be the case in Game One as the Fighting Maroons had all the answers for the league-wide Quiambao problem.
However, Torres and Alarcon are certain their former teammate will be back with a vengeance.
"Alam nating babawi at babawi si Kevin. Kaya kami, kailangan naming magtrabaho lang lalo," said Alarcon.
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