LSGH Greenies put in a lot of effort and bagged an unbeaten slate against Red Cubs back in NCAA Season 93.

Coach Marvin Bienvenida, Joel Cagulangan, Inand Fornillos, and Jacob Lao talked about the battle of green and red with hosts Charles Tiu, Paolo Layug, and Anton Altamirano in Tiebreaker Vods’ Coaches Unfiltered, presented by SMART.

Jacob Lao shared that they prepared big time just for the goal of defeating San Beda and to showcase their pride, talents come second in priority.

“Kasi coach (Paolo Layug), nung summer pa lang, we were preparing for San Beda talaga, not Mapua. We had our eyes on San Beda talaga…” Lao propounded.

San Beda was too strong to battle on the court, especially back in Seasons 87 and 89 under coach John Flores.

And even the likes Kobe Paras and Prince Rivero were not enough to gun the roster of Greenies and were no par at San Beda’s Andrei Caracut, and Ranbill Tongco.

So defeating the Red Cubs was a legendary feat for La Salle to beat San Beda and bagged first place, fourth place respectively at the end of the elimination round

Looking back, Cagulangan bolstered 25 points for the Greenies hiking their position into a 3-0 win-loss record.

But before that La Salle had great confidence on their palm for they had already given San Beda the taste of defeat with the first and second round of the elimination game.

“We had a little confidence going to that Final Four before meeting them because first round and second round, we were able to beat them eh. So we got momentum from that,” coach Bienvenida shared.

Nonetheless, even though they successfully triumphed over the powerhouse team of San Beda, Evan Nelle was one of the players that came into coach Bienvenida’s mind that resisted the best.

“Nakikita ko pa lang, ino-obserbahan ko si Evan during jump ball, sinabihan ko si Maimai. Tapos si Evan was starting to impose something already na alam ko tinititigan ka talaga ni Evan noon. Hindi siya tumitingin sa jump ball, talagang kay Maimai lang. True enough, Evan that time had a great game. He tried carrying his team that lasted for three overtimes,” he propounded.

“Si Evan kasi ‘pag naglalaro kami, parang gusto niya pumasok sa ulo ko eh, nilalaro niya ‘yung ulo ko. Tapos si Coach Marvin naman sabi niya, ‘Maimai, ‘wag mong papatulan ‘yan ha.’ Kasi ‘pag pinatulan ko ‘yun, bibigyan ko talaga nang mahigpit ‘yun. Hindi pwedeng hindi ako makakabawi, hindi ako papayag eh. Sabi naman ni coach, ‘Huwag Mai, sayang ‘yung game mo,’” affirmed Cagulangan.

Meanwhile, Butuan shared his thoughts on the great feeling of giving back to San Beda the share of loss as he tried to reminisce the prior season where Nelle tried to boast.

“….sabi niya sa akin nung halftime… Tinitigan niya ako sa mukha, sabi niya, ‘Hindi talaga kayo mananalo eh no?’ ‘Yun sabi niya sa akin,” Butuan said.

Nonetheless, as rivalries from these schools were non-stop, the former NCAA Juniors MVP Cagulangan shared “..sobrang ganda ng laban. Lahat ng players ng San Beda palaban, lahat ng kakampi ko palaban…”