Perpetual Help rolled to their first win of the season behind Edgar Charcos’ huge 27-point game

By Klyde Manansala | Photos by Gelay Davocol

In just two games, Edgar Charcos is already making a statement in his NCAA debut for the Perpetual Help Altas after showing off stellar performances.

Coming off an upsetting two-point loss against San Beda in their opener where he scored a team-high 15 points and seven assists, Charcos made sure they didn’t come up short again on a Friday night thriller. This time, the freshman guard chipped in 27 markers to lead the Altas to hand the Letran Knights their first loss of the season.

Beating a well-oiled machine like Letran was huge for the Altas, especially for coach Frankie Lim who sees the Intramuros-based squad as one of the toughest teams this year.

“Well, it’s nice (to win) kasi it’s against a strong team. I can see Letran up there in the top three—San Beda, LPU, Letran, and we beat Letran so medyo malaking victory ‘to because we lost by two sa San Beda, muntik na kami maka-tsamba doon pero it’s a big, big step for us,” Lim said.

As for the poise and leadership shown by the former University of the East guard who’s been paving the way for the Altas’ offensive attack, Lim has nothing but trust and expectations from the floor general.

“He’s my starting guard so a lot is expected from him without me telling him that. Alam niya ‘yun, understood na ‘yun,” said Lim of Charcos.

“Challenge sa sarili ko, kasi new school ko ‘to at dapat lakasan ko ‘yung loob ko na gawin ‘yung pinapagawa ni coach sa akin

Charcos came off a good first half after scoring 22 points but then warmed the bench for the whole third period due to foul trouble. Come the pay-off period, the 5’9” guard didn’t seem to cool off as he delivered five more buckets including an off-the-board floater at the 2:23 mark that gave them a 75-73 lead before completely getting away with the victory.

“Siguro nag-focus lang kami kung ano ‘yung game plan namin, kaya ayun, naka-isa kami sa kanila (Letran),” Charcos said about their victory.

As for the trust and responsibility his coach has given him, Charcos embraces the role willingly.

“Challenge sa sarili ko, kasi new school ko ‘to at dapat lakasan ko ‘yung loob ko na gawin ‘yung pinapagawa ni coach sa akin.”

Charcos also commended the brilliant coaching approach of Lim who just came back from a seven-year hiatus and is now looking to inject his winning tradition to an underdog team like Perpetual Help.

“Sobrang galing niya mag-motivate, lahat parang tinuturo isa-isa, hindi ‘yung kani-kaniya kami. Nandyan siya lagi ‘pag may problema kami. May mga problema kami (sa game), sinasabihan niya kami.”

After their big win, Lim applauded the effort shown by his players, which was mirrored in rebounding statistics as the Altas outrebounded the much bigger roster of the Knights, 40-38.

“That shows the effort given by my players, alam nilang undersized kami. Still, makikita mo pursigido sila, and that alone is big for the victory,” Lim said.

“At least na-sustain nila ‘yung game. At one point we were down by eight points, pero composed naman sila enough. In the end, we’re up by three, seconds to go, all I ask was for a stop and a rebound which happened,” he added.