A defensive-minded Letran took control from start to finish as frontliners Larry Muyang, Fran Yu, Ato Ular and Edson Batiller manned the boards efficiently and propelled the Knights to a 55-43 win over Jose Rizal University on Tuesday— their second triumph in three games in the 95th National Collegiate Athletic Association men’s basketball tournament.
Batiller, one of Letran’s senior players, showed the way with 14 points as the Knights won the low-scoring encounter at the FilOil-Flying V Sports Center in San Juan.
“Depensa lang. We had a bad game. We struggled with our errors. Hindi namin nakuha laro namin. So we had to regroup and correct our mistakes,” said Knights’ coach Bonnie Tan.
The Knights struggled after taking a 30-17 halftime spread. And they got a scare when ex-San Beda standout Ry de la Rosa unloaded two triples during an 8-0 rally midway in the third, putting the Heavy Bombers to within, 32-38.
A triple from Yu and a jumper from Jerrick Balanza with 4:22 to go allowed the Knights to move away by 15, 52-37.
Meanwhile, the San Sebastian Stags scored another blowout win, this time a 92-68 crushing of the Mapua University Cardinals.
With veteran cager Allyn Bulanadi helping out on both ends of the floor, the Stags drew double-digit outputs from six key players in earning their second straight triumph.
Bulanadi drilled in 13 of his 26 points for the Stags in the first half as they took charge, 46-23.
RK Ilagan showed the way for SSC with 16 points, while Alex Desoyo, Ken Villapando, JM Calma and Alvin Capobres, who had 14, 13, 12 and 10 points, respectively.
Stags’ coach Egay Macaraya said it was a statement game for them and that they will have to take a cautious stand in their coming matches, now that they have stayed in the lead.
In junior action, the San Sebastian College Staglets posted their first triumph in two outings, scoring a 64-62 upset of the defending champion Malayan Red Robins.
Dylan Darbin shot 14 points for the Staglets, who weathered the Red Robins’ late rally from 14 points down.
Randolph Perez tallied 13 points and nine boards for the Staglets.
Megan Galang shot 21 points for the Red Robins, who fought their way out of a 41-55 deficit at the end of the third.
“Hindi pa sila sanay sa pressure kasi most of our players, mga bago,” said Staglets’ coach Melo Banua after they dealt the Red Robins their second consecutive setback.
The Jose Rizal University Light Bombers, starring Gholam Garcia and Conrad Famaranco with 23 and 22 points, respectively, downed the Letran Squires, 85-69, to improve to 1-1.
