The Colegio de San Juan de Letran (CSJL) Knights, sans Mark Cruz, escaped the College of Saint Benilde (CSB) Blazers 68-64 in a highly physical contest late Friday afternoon at the Filoil Flying V Arena in San Juan City.
The Knights did not suit up Mark Cruz for this game as he was resting his sore knee according to Letran head coach Alvin Ayo.
The Blazers opened the game with a 12-9 lead behind the hot shooting of Travis Jonson and JJ Domingo. After a time out, the Knights then blasted a quick 9-0 run in under a minute highlighted by four points by Bong Quinto to give CSJL an 18-12 lead. After two free throws by Ralph Deles, JJ Domingo was able to knock in a three pointer to cut the deficit to just a solitary point, 18-17.
A quick 4-0 spurt by Jonathan Grey and Deles gave CSB the lead to start the second stanza of the game. The Knights went cold in the quarter missing a lot of open attempts from point blank range and were only able to punch in nine points in the quarter. Jonson was able to knock down a three pointer with just a second remaining before half time to give CSB a 33-27 lead.
Slowly, the CSJL Knights were able to tie the game at 41-all in the third quarter. At the 3:24 mark of the game, Jomari Sollano was tied up with CSB’s Christian Fajarito. Sollano was called for a foul by the referee near-by which frustrated the young big man that resulted to a technical. The game was tied at 46-all entering the final frame of the game.
The two teams matched each other point-for-point in the opening minutes of the final quarter. A hook shot by Ongteco gave CSB a 51-48 lead with 7:44 remaining. The Knights then went on a 11-2 rally ignited by a three-point play by Jerrick Balanza that gave CSJL a 58-53 lead with 4:47 remaining. The Blazers was able to claw their way back after back-to-back three pointers by JJ Domingo but the spitfire guard was fouled out of the game at the 3:12 mark after receiving his second technical foul. A split at the charity stripe by Romeo Nayve gave CSB a solitary point lead with 1:42 remaining. After a timeout, Mcjour Luib was able to locate Quinto at the post for an easy layup to give CSJL a 64-63 lead with 55.4 remaining. However, Sollano fouled Nayve who again split his charities to tie the game. With 22.6 seconds remaining, Luib was again able to locate Quinto at the post for the game winning shot. Free throws by Quinto sealed the game for the Knights. With the win, the Knights are now in third place of Group A in the tournament.
Coach Ayo told us after the game that the final play was supposed to be for Balanza but the play was broken up by the CSB defense. Coach Ayo also told us that this was a huge win for the Knights, “as a team its a huge win since it proved that we don’t rely on just one player. This just shows how deep our team is and that anyone who is called up should step up.”
Quinto led CSJL in scoring with 15 points, including 10 points in the final quarter. Big man Jomari Sollano had a double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds. On the other end, CSB big man JR Ongteco led the team with 16 points and 10 rebounds. JJ Domingo also had 16 points before fouling out.
The CSJL Knights will next play the NU Bulldogs on Wednesday, June 3 at 3:15pm while the CSB Blazers open the quintuple header against the UPHSD Altas at 10:00am on the same day.
The Scores:
CSJL (68) – Quinto 15, Luib 14, Sollano 11, Nambatac 8, Balanza 8, Publico 8, Apreku 2, Calvo 2, Bernabe 0, Dela Pena 0
CSB (64) – Ongteco 16, Domingo JJ 16, Jonson 12, Nayve 5, Deles 5, Grey 4, Saavedra 3, Fajarito 3, Sta. Maria 0, Castor 0, Domingo Js 0, Young 0
| TEAMS | 1ST | 2ND | 3RD | 4TH |
| CSJL (A, 5-2) | 18 | 27 | 46 | 68 |
| CSB (A, 3-4) | 17 | 35 | 46 | 64 |
