Letran moves forward from a painful loss which could have been prevented if not for some late-game miscues against Perpetual in Game Two of the NCAA juniors basketball finals on Wednesday, March 20.

Squires head coach Allen Ricardo made sure to give his players, especially to Syrex Silorio and Alex Gazzingan, the comforting words after they absorbed a 91-90 defeat which extended the series to a sudden death set on Saturday, March 23.

“Sabi ko kay Syrex (Silorio) and kay Lex (Gazzingan), sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. That’s life eh. Hindi naman niyan mate-test sa game lang na ‘to. Ganyang ang basketball, and it doesn’t mean na hindi nila na shoot ‘yon eh bababa na yung morale nila,” Ricardo said.

“It’s just a test of character and who they are going into the next game and in life,” he added.

Silorio, a proud son of Koronadal City, topped the scoring with 20 points, but he missed three straight free throws along with Gazzingan in the waning seconds.

Ricardo said they are taking all the lessons of their Game 2 loss to the rubber match as they hope to retain the crown against the equally hungry Junior Altas.

“Dahil nawala yung aggressiveness namin, kailangan maging aggressive kami. Yung energy namin, hindi namin na-sustain, so on Game 3, dapat taasan namin yung energy namin,” Ricardo said.