Colegio de San Juan de Letran completed its revenge over Lyceum of the Philippines University, eking out a 69-64 victory to get its seventh straight win in the NCAA Season 98 Seniors Basketball Tournament on Friday at the FilOil EcoOil Centre in San Juan City.
Down by two, 62-64 in the final two minutes of the game, John Barba was able to tie it at 62 apiece after a booming triple.
Sangalang quickly broke the tiebreaker, 64-62, after an undergoal stab before entering the final minute mark.
Renzo Navarro missed a corner triple before King Caralipio converted a tough layup over the outstretched arm of Mclaude Guadana, which boosted the Knights lead to four, 66-62, with 35-seconds left.
Shawn Umali and Fran Yu exchanged free throws with 15-ticks left, 68-64.
Coming off a timeout, Kurt Reyson stole the ball away during the inbound to seal the victory for the Knights.
“Dun sa last game namin we’re peaking up, pero ngayon medyo bumalik sa [dati] medyo mahaba ‘yung break. Pero, at least, na pull-though ng mga veterans natin ‘yung game,” said Letran head coach Bonnie Tan.
We’re aiming for the top two, so talagang the boys are motivated to finish the second round with a high note,” he continued
It was a tight ball game all throughout the contest with Letran and Lyceum tied at 31 to open the second half.
Brent Paraiso led the scoring for the Knights with 13 points, two rebounds, three assists, and two steals, while Louie Sangalang finished with 12 markers, 18 boards, and two rejections.
For Lyceum, only John Barba ended up with double-digit in the scoring department with 16 together with three rebounds and an assist.
The Knights are the first team to breach the 10-win mark, now with 10-3. The Pirates, on the other hand, dropped to 8-5.
Next up for Letran is Jose Rizal University on Sunday at 3 PM, while Lyceum will be back on November 5 against University of Perpetual Help System DALTA at 12 NN.
The Scores:
Letran 69 — Paraiso 13, Sangalang 12, Reyson 10, Yu 9, Caralipio 7, Javillonar 5, Olivario 4, Go 4, Santos 3, Ariar 2, Miclat 0, Guarino 0
Lyceum 64 –– Barba 16, Bravo 9, Guadana 8, Navarro 8, Valdez 6, Larupay 6, Umali 4, Villegas 4, Montano 3, Cunanan 0, Penafiel 0.
Quarterscores: 16-15, 31-31, 50-46, 69-64.
