Short and long of it in NCAA

MANILA, Philippines - The NCAA has its own version of David and Goliath. Only in this case, they don’t fight – rather they share similar attitudes on the court: They don’t allow their teams to lose.

The league’s shortest and tallest players at 5-foot-1 and 6-foot-8 respectively, Arellano University’s Leonard Anquilo and San Beda’s Sudan Daniel have emerged the heroes of their respective teams last week during their final games in the first round of the 85th NCAA seniors basketball tournament.

And for their exploits and antics, they were named co-recipients of the FilOil-Accel NCAA Press Corps Player of the Week.

Though overshadowed by his towering defenders, Anquilo proved he fits the bill as he powered the Chiefs to twin victories that propelled them to a tie at fourth with Letran on similar 5-4 cards.

In the Chiefs’ 96-77 win over Angeles University, Anquilo led his team with career-high 20 points which he highlighted with two triples aside from making all his three attempts from the two-point zone. He also surprised everybody when he ended up with four rebounds and two steals in 22 minutes of play.

Anquilo also had a crucial steal in the dying seconds to lift the Chiefs past the gritty Mapua Cardinals , 76-73, last Friday.

“He may be small but he has a big fighting heart,” said Arellano mentor Junjie Ablan of Anquilo, 20, an HRM student. “What he lacks in size, he makes up for his speed and big heart.”

Daniel, on the other hand, stepped up to lead the defending champion Red Lions to a rousing 95-81 victory over last year’s runner-up Jose Rizal University last Monday.

SBC coach Frankie Lim was not surprised with the way Daniel played in that game.

“Our game plan was to really give the ball to him inside because they have no answer for him. He was unstoppable,” Lim said of their American import.

So dominating was Daniel that he chalked up career-high 31 points, including 11 in the fourth quarter that helped his team close out the first round with an 8-1 mark. – Joey Villar