NCAA: Letran lights up in fourth quarter to trump St. Benilde

Mark Cruz celebrates another Letran win. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

Letran flicked its switch in the fourth quarter and dominated College of St. Benilde, 79-69, to get its 11th win in the NCAA Season 91 Seniors basketball tournament Thursday at San Juan Arena.

Down 62-56 at the start of the fourth quarter, the Knights went on a 23-5 rampage to take a 79-67 with 1:43 remaining in the game and put the game beyond reach.

Knights head coach Aldin Ayo attributed his team’s early struggles to their botched defense that allowed the Blazers to take the lead in the fourth.

“We started flat on defense,” Ayo said as his team took an 11-2 win-loss record. “We were good on the offensive side of the court but our flaw was our defense in the the first three quarters.”

Back-to-back triples from Rey Nambatac and Mark Cruz capped a 9-0 Knights run midway through the fourth as Letran took a 72-65 lead with 4:53 remaining and never looked back.

Cruz led the Knights with 20 points while Kevin Racal and McJour Luib had 18 and 16 points, respectively.

John Domingo and Jonathan Grey led the 3-11 Blazers with 14 points apiece.

CSB unwarily entered Letran’s House of Chaos and turned the ball over 24 times as the Knights stole the ball 12 times. CFC