Letran fights off Mapua, inches closer to final four berth in NCAA 89

LETRAN’S Kevin Racal (left) INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / AUGUST DELA CRUZ

MANILA, Philippines – League-leading Letran needed to rally in the third quarter to get past lowly Mapua, 77-70, in the NCAA Season 89 men’s basketball tournament Saturday at the Filoil Flying V Arena in San Juan.

The Knights, fresh off their vengeful win over rival San Beda Red Lions, faced an eight-point deficit, 39-47, early in the third period before coming back behind Kevin Racal and Raymond Almazan.

Racal and Almazan delivered anew with 23 and 16 points, respectively for Letran, which inched closer to nailing a Final Four berth with a 9-1 mark while also sending Mapua to its ninth defeat in 10 outings.

And while the Knights banked on their usual hitters in Racal and leading MVP candidate Almazan, they also drew firepower from an usual source in reserve guard Jovit Tambeling.

Tambeling came away with 13 points, eight coming in the early fourth quarter where Letran established its game. Two straight triples by Tambeling pushed his team’s lead to 11, 67-56, with 7:34 to go.

Tambeling’s impressive play though was cut short after he got thrown out for hitting Mapua’s Darell Magsigay with an elbow at the 7:12 mark of the four quarter.

Kenneth Ighalo led the Cardinals with 19 points, including a basket that pulled his team to within six, 63-69, before Letran got it back to 10, 77-67, on a pair of free throws by Racal.