Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
Jose Rizal University remained unbeaten in the Filoil Flying V Preseason Premier Cup after coming away with an 82-74 victory over Letran Friday at Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan.
The Heavy Bombers improved to 3-0 to tie Lyceum of the Philippines University atop Group A while the Knights languish at the bottom with a 0-3 card.
JRU held a 76-66 lead late in the fourth but the Knights managed to mount an 8-2 run to cut the lead to four, 78-74, after Rey Nambatac hit a transition triple at the 1:11 mark.
Gio Lasquety, however, would put the breaks on Letran’s effort after he hit a baseline jumper at the 55.2-second mark of the game to give JRU an 80-74 advantage.
Despite the win, JRU head coach Vergel Meneses said they can never be complacent while holding a lead down the stretch especially against the Knights who are capable of pushing for a comeback.
“We got too many mistakes and they thought that Letran would never recover, Letran has come back many times now when they were down,” said Meneses. “Letran has a ‘never-say-die’ attitude so whenever you let your guard down those players will attack.”
MJ Dela Virgen led JRU with 17 points, going 100 percent from inside the arc, to go along five rebounds.
Lasquety and Teytey Teodoro provided the offensive punch off the bench as they put up 12 and 11 points, respectively.
Rey Nambatac had a game-high 25 points, to go along six boards and, three steals to lead the Knights.