MANILA, Philippines – During Letran’s 67-63 conquest of the College of Saint Benilde last Saturday to open to men’s basketball competition of NCAA Season 97, there was something new and yet something similar in the Knights’ sleek new forward Rhenz Abando.
The mad hops were there. The scoring was there. The game-changing presence was there. The combo with a spitfirish and scoring playmaker was there.
The jersey — dark blue — was different although he did wear the colors of another Dominican school. And unlike his spiky hair that he wore three years ago, this time, he wore a shorn mane.
Continuing the line of do-it-all frontcourt players like Kevin Racal and Jerrick Balanza, Abando tallied 19 points, eight rebounds, four blocks, three assists versus three turnovers — all in just under 30 minutes of play.
It was a tantalizing debut that mirrored his unveiling at the University of Santo Tomas in September 4, 2019 where Abando presided over the Growling Tigers’ 95-82 win over the University of the East in UAAP Season 82.
In that match, Abando put together a stat line of 22 points, four rebounds and three assists against three errors — in an economical 21 minutes.
Against UE, Abando made 15 3-point attempts but nailed only five.
With Letran, the 6’4” forward shockingly took only five attempts and made one on his first try. Instead, without any foreign student center, Abando took his game inside, hence, the more rebounds and more points inside.
With his new team after leaving UST following its implosion in the now infamous Naga incident during the height of the COVID-19 lockdown, Abando formed a huge partnership with point guard Fran Yu.
Yu scored 12 points and also grabbed eight boards and issued one assist versus six turnovers.
Over at UST, Abando played with an awesome backcourt of Renzo Subido and Mark Nonoy. He averaged 12.0 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.3 blocks playing alongside Soulemane Chabi Yo, CJ Cansino, Renzi Subido, Mark Nonoy, Brent Paraiso and Sherwin Concepcion. Abando started five of 18 matches he played with UST.