Perpetual Help earns 1st win in NCAA Season 86

University of Perpetual Help System DALTA (UPHSD) finally earned its first win in the 86th NCAA men's basketball tournament as the Altas made sure they won't endure the winless fate of UAAP counterpart University of the Philippines.

Arnold Danganan finished what Jet Vidal started to lead the Altas scored to an easy 69-52 victory over the Emilio Aguinaldo College (EAC) Generals at The Arena in San Juan City to end a frustrating losing skid dating back from last year's tournament. Prior to their first win, the Altas had a 14-game losing skid this season and 23 straight overall dating back in the second round of last year's NCAA basketball tournament. Perpetual Help came out strong and bullied skidding EAC the entire match. The Las Piñas-based squad of coach Boris Aldeguer led from the opening tip and was never seriously threatened in the contest to give EAC coach Gerry Esplana his second loss since taking over from Nomar Isla. The Generals suffered their ninth straight loss for a 2-9 card. "We're happy to finally get our first win before the season ends," said Danganan, who scored 15 of his 23 points in the second half. He also had two rebounds and one assist for the Altas. The last time the Altas won was on August 12, 2009 when they ironically beat EAC, 86-79, in their final first round assignment. The team finished with a dismal 3-15 record. "After 15 tries, I thought maybe we would get one and it happened on the latter part of the season," said coach Boris Aldeguer, who is unsure whether he will stay for the last season of his three-year deal in 2011. The win gave Perpetual a reason to smile about in an already frustrating season. Perpetual had a respectable campaign in preseason tournaments, reaching the semifinals of the Father Martin Cup and nearly entered the quarterfinals of the FilOil tournament. But the Altas encountered some problems before the start of the season when Marlon Gomez, who played impressively in the summer leagues with his inside game, and Paul Nullian were disallowed by the league to play because of eligibility concerns. "After what happened to this team we just wanted to play and enjoy it regardless of our record. We still played the same game even if we were losing," said Aldeguer. Perpetual avoided a similar scenario that UP experienced in the UAAP when it failed to win all of its 14 games. It also faced high expectations owing to a solid preseason campaign only to falter big time. The Altas enjoyed several 20-point leads, the last time at 59-39, on Justine Alano's lay-up midway in the fourth period. The Generals couldn't come closer from there. Danganan, who will finish his only campaign on the team's last assignment against Arellano on Monday, shot 10-of-15 from the field while Vidal scored 17 points on 3-of-8 shooting from the three-point region. Vidal, a member the last PCU Dolphins team that played in the league in 2008, had nine points in the first half as the Altas took a 33-21 halftime lead. Former University of Santo Tomas (UST) cager Milan Vargas was the lone double-digit scorer for the Generals with 12 points, six rebounds and two assists while guard Argel Mendoza had nine points, eight rebounds and five assists. – JVP/RCJ, GMANews.TV